Some of the advisors to the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan included Edwin O. Reischauer, Gerald L. Curtis, Ronald P. Dore, John W. Hall, Ezra Vogel, Akira Iriye, and Tsuru Shigeto.
These include encyclopedia standards such as history, literature, art, religion, economy, and geography.
In addition, science, technology, law, women, folklore, plant and animal life, food, clothing, sports, and leisure are given separate categories.
It also contains roughly 1000 illustrations in the form of photographs, maps, diagrams, graphs, charts and tables.
The ninth index volume contains names and words mentioned within the encyclopedia, but not assigned separate entries.