The word “Amane” means “extensive; ubiquitous; universal.” The Amane Project is an academic project formed in December 2006 with the aim of developing advanced ways of using historical materials. Experts in a number of fields, such as historians, information systems researchers, and tourism information researchers have joined together to take on the task of finding new applications for historical materials.

Most people probably have the idea that historical materials and documents are difficult to understand, irrelevant, or boring, if asked what comes to mind when they think of them. It’s true that most historical materials have tended to be gathered and stored in academic institutions like universities and libraries and museums, with little relevance to us and not easily accessible.

However, is it true to say historical materials really are boring? By increasing, and spreading, the value they have as information resources, and by making use of that which our ancestors, who lived in these places, have bequeathed us, we at the Amane Project believe that this can create a “historical worldview” that shows us in the modern world how they truly were.