This article explores how American recordkeeping system were introduced, understood and implemented in modern Japan. While the recordkeeping system in European countries and United States were imported to Japan during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, one of the significant issues to solve was to what extent the current records of an organization should be filed and maintained centrally. The vertical filing system, which was invented in the early twentieth century America, was readily introduced in Japan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan was one of the largest agencies to adopt the system. It was, however, forced to revise only a few years later, because the centralized files did not work well. Based on such experiences, decentralization to some extent was supported in Japan after the World War II. At the time, Japanese filing system advocates were also influenced by American records management concept of centralized control under decentralized files.

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This article focuses on the open access environment created by 'archivists', mainly Adolf Iwar Arwidsson and Edvard Gronblad, in early 19th century. The topics are: 1) how archivists or librarians were able to have official documents in Finland and Sweden; 2) what thoughts or activities, in regard to archives, Finnish archivists were inspired in Sweden; 3) what Arwidsson thought about archival materials related to Finland; 4) how Gronblad managed archival things in order to encourage people to study Finland; 5) in connection with the above, what sort of archival materials related to Finland we can access through the internet now.

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The purpose of Public Records Management Act and Prefectural Ordinance for Public Records Management is to achieve "accountability." The evaluation and classification of public documents should follow such accountability. I have examined such points as the introduction of a record schedule, and the evaluation and classification of significant official documents of administrative policy and affairs which can achieve accountability, and of significant official documents as historical records which have been passed down through the years. I have focused on school archives.

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The Ordinance of the Public Records Management of Sapporo City was enacted in 2012, and Sapporo City Archives was opened in July 2013. Sapporo City makes a difference in establishing its archival system concurrently with the ordinance. The author of this paper worked as an archivist from the startup period to the opening year. Based on the experience, this paper is aimed at making sure the outline of the new system and the role of the archives, and at evaluation of the activity of the archives in the opening year from viewpoints of appraisal, acceptance and cataloguing, records management system operation and access.

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Use of open data becomes one of the hot topics around the world. Here, open data means raw data held and provided by any kinds of organizations "openly," i.e. available and usable freely via web sites, in order to enhance mutual understandings between the data providers (organizations) and users. Especially, organizations of central and local governments in several countries lead such open data activities. This article introduces current status of open data, in emphasis with policy issues, and its possible effects on access to government information. The discussion of this article is partly based on "recordkeeping informatics," a new concept led by Frank Upward, the originator of "records continuum" theory.

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Dr. Terry Cook, one of the prominent leaders of the contemporary archival world, passed away in May 2014. Japanese readers have accepted his thoughts and activities, including his macro-appraisal strategy, since mid-2000s. This article is a memorial essay dedicated to Dr. Cook from Japan, including the author's own relationship with him.

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