Public Libraries Are Free by Law, but a Library Card Requires an Address Check

Japanese libraries are a familiar place both for people learning Japanese and for families who want their children to read. To borrow a book you need a library card, and getting one involves an address check.

Below is a summary, as of September 2026, based on the provisions of the Library Act, the guidance of the Yokohama City Library, the Kobe City Library, the Tokyo Metropolitan Library, and the International Library of Children’s Literature (National Diet Library), and each library’s own catalog search (OPAC). Registration conditions differ from library to library. Check with the library you want to use to find out whether you can register.

Public Libraries Are Free

Article 17 of the Library Act states, "a public library shall not charge an admission fee or any other consideration for the use of library materials." A public library is one established by a local public body such as a prefecture, city, town, or ward (same act, Article 2). Entry, reading, and borrowing are all free. The Yokohama City Library’s guidance likewise states, "registration and lending are free."

Photocopying, on the other hand, generally does cost something. The Tokyo Metropolitan Library’s Q&A page has an item about in-library photocopying fees.

Who Can Get a Library Card

At a city, town, or ward library, it is common for both residents of that city, town, or ward and people who commute there for work or school to be able to get a card. Some libraries also issue cards to residents of nearby cities and towns. Two city examples follow.

Neither example lists a residence card by name. Yokohama cites "certificates issued by a municipality or government office" as an example, but check at the counter whether a residence card or a My Number notification card can be used (Kobe states that a My Number notification card cannot be used as proof). Completing your address notification and getting a copy of your resident record increases the number of documents you can use for verification. Address notification is covered in our article on the terms that come up in Japan’s resident registration.

Examples of Registration Rules

• Yokohama: one card is valid at every city library, one per person. One card lets you borrow 10 books for two weeks. Registration is valid for five years. You can also apply for registration online.
• Kobe: the card is valid for 10 years and usable at every city library. You can borrow up to 10 books total for two weeks. Even someone who doesn’t live in, commute for work to, or commute to school in the city, or in a neighboring city or town, can get a card if an adult (18 or older, not a student) living in Kobe acts as guarantor and submits a guarantee form.
• Registering a child: in Yokohama, when a child of elementary-school age or younger registers alone, their name and address can be confirmed with mail addressed to them. If they come with a parent or guardian, bring an identity document for the child.

Prefectural and National Libraries May Not Lend to Individuals

Some libraries established by prefectures, and national libraries, do not lend books to individuals.

In its Q&A page, the Tokyo Metropolitan Library says, "We do not lend to individuals." Instead, it operates "cooperative lending," supplying books to city, ward, and town libraries within Tokyo. If you ask through the library in your ward or city, you may be able to read the book there.

The International Library of Children’s Literature of the National Diet Library (Ueno, Tokyo) also does not lend to individuals. Besides reading its holdings in the library itself, you can read them at your local public library and others through "interlibrary loan," on-site at that library.

Examples of Libraries That Hold Books in Ukrainian

Here are examples where catalog searches turned up books in Ukrainian, or materials written in Ukrainian. All were confirmed in each library’s catalog search on September 24, 2026; lending status changes.

Yokohama City Central Library

Searching the Yokohama City Library’s catalog for "@Books in Ukrainian" (the Japanese phrase used in the catalog) turns up six results, five of which are Ukrainian-language picture books. They are the "Tutti" series, written by Anastasiia Goldak (Анастасія Ґольдак) and illustrated by Kateryna Azarkina (Катерина Азаркіна) (published, where the year could be confirmed, in 2021–2022). For example, "Тутті і ванілінки" (Japanese title: Tutti and the Vanilla Berries) is held by the Central Library as a children’s book, and its status was "available."

Kobe City Library

The Kobe City Library’s catalog search shows that the Hyogo International Association’s "Disaster Preparedness Guidebook for Children and Parents," Ukrainian-language edition (2022 revised edition, bilingual in Japanese and Ukrainian), is held at six locations including the Central Library. The two copies at the Central Library are for in-library reading only. See also our article on what you can read in Ukrainian about preparing for earthquakes and typhoons in Japan.

International Library of Children’s Literature, National Diet Library

A search on the National Diet Library Search shows that picture books from Ukrainian publishers are held at the International Library of Children’s Literature. For example, the Ukrainian folk tale "Рукавичка" (the folk tale behind the Japanese picture book "Tebukuro," publisher Навчальна книга – Богдан, 2011) is in the stacks of the Research Materials Room for Children’s Books, and can be read there on-site. That room is, in principle, for people 18 and older (people under 18 can consult about access). See our article on "Rukavychka," the original title of the picture book "Tebukuro", for more on Tebukuro and the Ukrainian folk tale behind it.

How to Search for Books in Ukrainian

A city, town, or ward library’s catalog search may have a field for choosing a search language, but not always an option for "Ukrainian." The Yokohama City Library’s advanced search offered 13 language options — Japanese, Chinese, Korean, English, and others — plus "other." On the Yokohama City Library, searching with Cyrillic terms such as "Україна" returned no results; Ukrainian picture books turned up under the Japanese phrase "book in Ukrainian" attached to the title. Searching with the Japanese term for "Ukrainian" is one approach worth trying. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can ask at the library counter.

The Japan Library Association’s Multicultural Services Committee publishes a page collecting multilingual library glossaries and phrasebooks, and links to living-information resources, including information for Ukrainians residing in Japan under its living-information section. For places to learn Japanese, see our article on local Japanese classes and free Japanese-learning materials available in Ukrainian, and for Japanese translations of Ukrainian literature, see our article on where to start reading Ukrainian literature.