About Japan Documents

Japan Documents is an imprint of MHM Limited, a well-established importer of books published by American and European University Presses and other academic publishers into Japan, for supply to universities, research institutes, and individual academics. On the strength of its dominant position in the Japanese scholarly market for English language publications, MHM launched Japan Documents in 2018 as an imprint with a single-minded focus on high-level English language Japanese Studies. Encouragement of Japanese scholars to edit volumes as well as contribute to them is an important part of our strategy, as is the desire to invite younger scholars to participate in this program wherever possible.

 

Two major works have previously been published under The Japan Documents imprint, when it was under the guidance and administration of the company of the same name. Both of these, The Iwakura Embassy, 1871–1873 (published 2002) and Clouds Above the Hill, an English translation of Shiba Ryotaro’s 坂の上の雲 (saka no ue no kumo, published 2014) are award-winning publications which have been widely praised for their excellence and importance. The imprint has now been re-launched with the Handbook program as a fully active and exciting new player in Japanese Studies, with an ambitious growth plan. The first handbook—Handbook of Higher Education in Japan—was published in September 2021 under the Japan Documents imprint in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, ROC, and, for the rest of the world, under the imprint of Amsterdam University Press, with whom MHM has a co-publishing agreement for the Japan Document Handbooks series.

 

Mr. Malcolm Campbell, a SOAS graduate in Chinese and Classical Tibetan, the Publishing Director, has a long career of publishing with Routledge, Curzon Press (of which he was the owner-publisher), Global Oriental, and others and continues to advise and work with the publishing programs of Amsterdam University Press.