Diplomatic Archives Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (外務省外交史料館)

History and Founding

The Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (外務省外交史料館, Gaimushō Gaikō Shiryōkan) was inaugurated on 15 April 1971 as an office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was established in response to requests from diplomatic history researchers and due to the lack of space in the Ministry to house pre-war records. Its mandate was to preserve and provide access to records from the end of the Tokugawa Period through the end of World War II. In July 1988, an Annex was constructed to house an exhibition room and repository, donated by the Yoshida Shigeru International Foundation. In 2001, the Archives was designated one of the facilities for appropriate preservation and management of historical documents under the Act on Access to Information. Under the Public Archives and Records Management Act of 2011, the Minister for Foreign Affairs designated it the facility to manage specified historical public records of the Ministry, giving it a role analogous to the National Archives of Japan. In April 2024, the Exhibition Room was relocated to the fifth floor of the Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower, making it more accessible to the general public.

Collections and Holdings

The core holdings are the Records of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, comprising approximately 116,000 items in total, of which nearly 103,000 are files. These include diplomatic cables and official letters to and from overseas missions covering roughly eighty years from the Meiji Period through the early 1990s. Pre-war records number approximately 40,000 files and post-war records approximately 63,000. The Tsushinzenran (320 volumes, 1859–1860) and the Zokutsushinzenran (1,784 volumes, 1861–1868) are landmark collections of diplomatic documents from the late Tokugawa era and have been designated Important Cultural Properties by the Japanese government. The Archives also holds approximately 600 treaties and conventions signed between the end of the Tokugawa Period and the end of World War II, as well as around 1,100 letters from foreign heads of state. Since 1936, the Ministry has published the Nihongaikobunsho (Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy), a chronological anthology drawn from the holdings. Personal materials of former Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru, numbering approximately 320 items, are also held.

Notable Materials Related to Journalism and Media

The archives contain diplomatic correspondence and official communications that document Japan's international relationships as reported in the press, including cables relating to major episodes in Japanese diplomatic history such as the Meiji-era opening, the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, and wartime diplomacy. These primary sources are essential for scholars researching the historical context of media coverage of Japanese foreign policy.

Access and Usage

The Main Building Reading Room is open to the public; visitors may read the holdings and photograph records with a personal camera. Reproduction is also available through a copy service. The Exhibition Room at Azabudai Hills is freely open to the public and displays selected treaties and historical documents from the late Tokugawa Period through the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, as well as personal articles of historical figures. Many pre-war foreign ministry records are digitally accessible through the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR).