 thumb|right|240px|tokyo main library of the national diet library thumb|right|240px|kansai-kan of the national diet library the  is the only national library in japan. it was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the  in researching matters of public policy. the library is similar in purpose and scope to the u.s. library of congress. the national diet library (ndl) consists of two main facilities in tokyo and kyoto, and several other branch libraries throughout japan. ==history== the national diet library is the successor of three separate libraries: the library of the house of peers, the library of the house of representatives, both of which were established at the creation of japan's imperial diet in 1890; and the imperial library, which had been established in 1872 under the jurisdiction of the ministry of education. the diet's power in prewar japan was limited, and its need for information was "correspondingly small." the original diet libraries "nev
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