Books, particularly focused on background material, can help you define and refine your research topic. Encyclopedias are an excellent place to begin your research. Most encyclopedias are located on level 2 of the High Library and cannot be checked out. Books located on levels 1,3 and 4 are able to be checked out.
Background information: Encyclopedias, etc.
Nippon Collection is a collection of books from the Nippon Foundation devoted exclusively to topics of historical and contemporary Japan.
Books Beyond Etown are resources accessible through the WorldCat database via Interlibrary Loan, various Internet open access projects and E-Book collections.
Anime Explosion! The What? Why? and Wow! of Japanese Animation, Revised and Updated Edition by 
Atari to Zelda: Japan's Videogames in Global Contexts by 
Consuming Japan: Popular Culture and the Globalizing of 1980s America by 
Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture
Manga Vision: Cultural and Communicative Perspectives by 
Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical Prehistory of J-Pop by 