Primary sources are original materials. They are first-hand accounts from the time period involved and may include such things as:
("Secondary" sources are created after the fact by individuals or groups who did not witness the events being discussed. They interpret, report, or correlate subjects based on their study of primary material. It is inevitable that we all interpret events of the past through the lens of our own experience, but reputable scholars attempt to minimize subjectivity.)
To find primary sources in the Library catalogue use keywords that describe your topic together with any of the following subject headings:
Autobiography / Autobiographies, Correspondence, Diary / Diaries, Interview / Interviews, Letter / Letters, Personal narratives, Sources, Speech / Speeches
Examples:
Japan Centre for Asian Historical Records
Japanese Historical Text Initiative - University of California at Berkeley
Japanese Illustrated Books from the Edo and the Meiji Periods
Landscapes of Injustice - This Research Database provides access to thousands of records related to Japanese Canadian history and the dispossession of their property in the 1940s.
National Archives of Japan - Digital Archive
Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era - University of British Columbia
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II - National Security Archives
Birth of the Constitution of Japan - National Diet Library
Current News Sites
Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period - Nagasaki University Library Collection
Meiji at 150 - Image collection, The University of British Columbia
Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era in UBC Open Collections
East-Asia Image Collection - Japan; Maintained by Lafayette College.
Photo Archive of Japanese Religions - Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nagoya, Japan
Japanese Woodblock Print Search -
Japanese Canadian Photograph Collection in UBC Open Collections