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Terms of Use of the National Diet Library's website

Using the content on the National Diet Library's website

Information available on the National Diet Library's website which is provided under the domain of "ndl.go.jp" or "kodomo.go.jp" (hereinafter referred to as "Content") may be freely used, copied, publicly transmitted, translated or otherwise modified on condition that the user complies with provisions 1) to 6) below. Commercial use of Content is also permitted.

Note, however, that numerical data and data in simple tables, graphs, and so forth are not subject to copyright. Accordingly the terms of use do not apply to such data, and said data may be used freely.

Use of the Content constitutes agreement by the user with these terms of use for using the Content described herein (hereinafter referred to as "Terms of Use").

  • Note: If a web page, including on the domains mentioned above, sets other terms and conditions of use, those conditions will take precedence over those defined by this policy. Please refer to examples of individual terms and conditions for use in the separate sheet about exceptions.

1) Source citation

  1. The user must cite the source when using the Content. Sources should be cited in the following manner:
    [Examples of source citation]
    • Source: National Diet Library's website (https://www.ndl.go.jp/en/index.html)
    • Source:History (National Diet Library)
      (https://www.ndl.go.jp/en/aboutus/outline/history/index.html) (Accessed on year/month/day)
  2. If you have edited the Content for use, you must include a statement expressing that the content has been edited, in addition to the abovementioned source citation. You cannot make edited information public in a format that may be misconstrued as having been created by the National Diet Library.
    [Example of citation when using edited content]
    • Created by editing the History (National Diet Library) ownership stamp of the National Diet Library (https://www.ndl.go.jp/jp/aboutus/outline/history/short_history.html)
    • Created by Company YY based on the History (National Diet Library) (https://www.ndl.go.jp/jp/aboutus/outline/history/short_history.html)

2) No infringement of third party rights

  1. In some cases, a third party (refers to a party other than the government of Japan. Hereinafter referred to as "Third Party") may hold copyrights or other rights to a part of the Content. For Content where a Third Party holds copyrights or other rights (e.g. portrait rights in a photograph, publicity rights, etc.), it is the responsibility of the user to obtain consent for use from the Third Party unless there is explicit indication that the rights have already been cleared.
    When using the Content available on the National Diet Library's website, please pay attention to its copyright, because many of them belong to third parties.
    There is some content for which the National Diet Library has acquired the copyright from copyright holders. If you wish to use content that might have cleared copyright, such as those in which a third party is listed as the author, please refer to "Utilizing content from the National Diet Library website" and send the request from the Reproduction Request Form.
  2. If a Third Party holds rights to a part of the Content, said fact may be directly or indirectly stated or indicated through source citations, but in some cases the part of the Content to which the Third Party holds the rights may not be clear or may not be explicitly stated. It is the responsibility of the user to confirm the rights pertaining to use of the Content.
    (=>Example of an indication of Third Party rights)[See the separate sheet about exceptions.]
  3. The user must comply with the terms and conditions of the source provider for Content obtained through API (Application Programming Interface) links to external databases, etc.
    (=>Example of Content obtained through API links to external databases, etc.)[See the separate sheet about exceptions.]
  4. Even if a Third Party holds copyrights to the Content, some use of the Content, such as quoting, may be allowed without the consent of the copyright holder, under the Copyright Act of Japan. Also, when you wish to use Content which has cleared copyright, please see "Utilizing content from the National Diet Library website"

3) Content where the Terms of Use do not apply

The Terms of Use herein do not apply to the following Content.

  1. Symbol marks, logos, and character designs which represent organizations or specific businesses.
  2. Content where other terms of use apply with rational and concrete reason.
    (=>Content where other terms of use apply)[See the separate sheet about exceptions.]

4) Governing law and jurisdiction

  1. The state bears absolutely no responsibility for any action taken by the user involving the use of the Content (including use of information based on edited Content).
  2. In case of disputes relating to the use of Content based on the Terms of Use, or the Terms of Use, the user agrees that the exclusive court of first instance shall be the Tokyo District Court.

5) Disclaimer

  1. The state bears absolutely no responsibility for any action taken by the user involving the use of the Content (including use of information based on edited Content).
  2. The Content may be modified, moved or deleted without prior notice.

6) Others

  1. The Terms of Use do not limit those types of uses for which, under the Copyright Act of Japan, license from the right holders are not required.
  2. The Terms of Use were established on 2022-02-01. The Terms of Use are based on the Government of Japan Standard Terms of Use (Version 2.0). The Terms of Use may be modified in the future. If you are already using Content under a previous version of the Government of Japan Standard Terms of Use, these terms and conditions will continue to apply.
  3. The Terms of Use are compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (hereinafter referred to as the CC BY License). This means that Content based on the Terms of Use may be used under the CC BY License in lieu of the Terms of Use.

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Separate sheet about exceptions

1) Example of an indication of Third Party rights

Source: XX, Photo courtesy of YY, created by ZZ, etc.

  • October 1998: Start of the construction of the Kansai-kan from the History of the Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library
    https://www.ndl.go.jp/en/kansai/about/history_199810.html
  • Sports and Children's Books
    https://www.kodomo.go.jp/english/event/exb2021-01.html

2) Example of Content obtained through API links to external databases, etc.

3) Content where other terms of use apply(Last update: September 2, 2024)

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