Japan: History and Culture

Historical sources (in English) containing information about Tokyo are likely to be travel narratives or guide books. For example: 

• Terry's Guide to the Japanese Empire -- There are two versions in the library, one from 1914 and one from 1930; the 1914 version is also available as an ebook in HathiTrust. Terry's guide is written for Western tourists to Japan. Note: HathiTrust has thousands of items in full text published before 1926 (view a short video on search in HathiTrust).
• A Handbook for Travellers in Japan: (Including Formosa) by John Murray published in 1913 is also in Seymour Library. It contains many foldout maps.
• Another travel guide for Westerners is Keeling's Guide to Japan (1890). 
• The Lure of Japan (1934) -- Main Stacks DS 810 .A535 -- This one is produced not by a Westerner, but by the Board of Tourist Industry, Tokyo, although it appears to be directed at Western tourists in Japan. 

These kinds of historical materials can be identified in Knox Primo (including the I-Share libraries) using the Advanced Search and the keywords "japan description and travel" with the search limited to the SUBJECT field, like this:

Try these other useful sites:

• Japanese Digital Resources: History – UPenn Library Guide
  A list of mostly free online resources for studying all aspects of Japanese history
• Asia for Educators – Columbia University
  Useful resource to get up to speed on general history topics
• Becoming Modern- Early 20th Century Japan Through Primary Sources
  Curriculum package from the University of Colorado at Boulder exploring ways to teach about modernity in Japanese history through the use of primary sources.

Historical maps on the internet. 

• Japanese Historical Maps  (UC Berkeley)
• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has images of maps of Japan and Tokyo.
• The Perry-Castañeda map collection at the University of Texas has several 19th c. maps of Tokyo (Edo, Tokio).
• Search the Old Maps Online collection. These digital maps come from a variety of reputable sources.
• Wikimedia Commons has several maps from various sources.

Travel guides, both current ones and historical ones, will often provide detailed maps. The map on the left is of Tokyo from the 1914 edition of Terry's Japanese Empire.  (Click on the map to enlarge it.) The Terry's Guide published in 1933 also has a map of Tokyo--it might be interesting to compare the two maps.

The Historical New York Times and the Times (London) Digital Archive will provide news stories about events in Tokyo, like this article from The New York Times in 1911:

 Note the use of the word "Tokio" in the headline. You should use alternative names for Tokyo if you are searching for older articles (Tokio, Edo, Yedo). 

You can try adding terms for places within Tokyo. For example, the term "Asakusa" brings up some articles about historical events in that place. One article from Aug. 19, 1918 about food riots in Tokyo reads in part: "The rioters also pillaged houses in Asakusa, the great recreation resort of the middle and lower classes. A number of the disturbers were wounded by the swords of the police."

If your results set is large, use the date slider on the results list page to limit your results by date

Read the Japan Times newspaper (in English) at their online site.