Azora Bunko facts for kids
Aozora Bunko (青空文庫) is a special Japanese online library. It's like a huge bookshelf on the internet! This collection has thousands of books and writings in Japanese. You can find both exciting stories (fiction) and factual books (non-fiction) here.
Aozora Bunko shares digital copies of many books that are "out-of-copyright." This means the authors or their families no longer own the rights to the books, so they can be shared freely with everyone. Think of it like a free public library, but all online! It's quite similar to Project Gutenberg, which is another big online library for free books.
What is Aozora Bunko?
Aozora Bunko means "Blue Sky Library" in Japanese. It's a place where you can read many classic Japanese books for free. These books are usually older ones that are no longer protected by copyright laws. This allows anyone to read, download, and even use parts of them without needing special permission.
The library makes these books available in digital formats. This means you can read them on your computer, tablet, or phone. It's a great way to explore Japanese literature and learn about its culture from anywhere in the world.
History of Aozora Bunko
Aozora Bunko was created in 1997. Its goal was to make Japanese books available to everyone online, for free. It started with just a few books and has grown a lot since then.
In 2006, Aozora Bunko began to do more than just share books. They started working to make sure that e-books could be read freely by everyone. They became a group that spoke up for the idea of "free access" to digital books. This means they wanted to help create rules and ideas that would allow more books to become free for people to read online.
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