List of archives in Japan
This is a list of in Japan. According to the National Archives of Japan, "archives are one of the three key pillars of culture, together with libraries and museums". Background. Archive-like facilities and repositories for official documents known as existed in the Asuka period, while the Shōsōin's holdings include over 11,000 . The post-war period of Occupation saw the passing of the Library Act (1950) and Museum Act (1951); also in 1951, by ministerial decree, the Ministry of Education set up its to collect and records, the nucleus of the Department of Historical  Documents at the National Institute of Japanese Literature. 1959 saw establishment of the , the country's first dedicated archival institution; from the outset it collected as well as . Further prefectural archives followed in Saitama, Tōkyō, and Kyōto in the 1960s, and in 1971 the National Archives were established. By the end of the 1970s there were fifteen archives at the national, prefectural, and city levels. The 1980s brought nine further prefectural archives and four in ordinance-designated cities, while the was passed in 1987. Entering into force in June the following year, the first of its seven articles stresses the  importance of preserving and providing for use public records and archives as historical materials. Nevertheless, recent municipal mergers and dissolutions have occasioned concerns about the loss of municipal records.