Recent Developments in the Japanese Branch of Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (Rilm National Committee of Japan): Its Task and Future

Abstract

At the twentieth Congress of the International Musicological Society (IMS), held in Tokyo March 2017, RILM Japan organised a session ‘Collaboration and Dialogue: RILM in Japan’, in which the invited speakers pointed out the current problems of RILM Japan: for example, the difficulties in the transliteration of Japanese documents and ensuing misinterpretation, and the still estranged position of popular music studies in traditional Japanese musicology. On the other hand, since its foundation in 1967, RILM Japan has undergone several changes in its office location, editorial principles, and publication methods, which are almost always a result of financial challenges. Despite its constant efforts, therefore, RILM Japan has been facing fundamental problems in its operations for a long time. In June 2018, IAML Japan and RILM Japan jointly hosted a conference ‘Music Information in Asia and Advancement of International Collaboration: Searching the Music Source and Connecting the Music Libraries’ at Rikkyo University, Tokyo. A formal declaration of the conference was unanimously approved as follows: ‘We the members of IAML and RILM Japan hereby state our intent to be in closer contact with others in Asia concerned with the care, collection, and dissemination of music materials to facilitate mutual understanding and collaboration.’ Finally, as a result of such endeav-ours, in April 2021, the Japanese Society of Popular Music has joined RILM Japan as a subsidising support group, and an online Web system, RILM Japan Online (only for domestic use at this point), has been placed in operation after a long debate over its implementation.