Japanese Books MCP Server (jp-books-mcp)

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools to search Japanese books and retrieve rich metadata. It integrates search results from:

1. books.or.jp (Japan Book Publishers Association)
2. National Diet Library (NDL) Search (National Diet Library Search)

Features

• Book Search: Query books on books.or.jp or the National Diet Library (NDL).
• Rich Metadata Extraction: Retrieve full book descriptions, publishers, formats (size), pages, prices, publication dates, and cover image URLs.
• Robust Schema: Data is validated and structured using Pydantic v2.

Tools

The server registers three tools:

1. jp_books_search

Searches for books on books.or.jp by title, author, publisher, or other keywords.

• Arguments:
  • query (string, required): The search query (e.g., book title, author name, or keyword).
• Returns: A list of search results including title, author, publisher, publish date, URL, and ISBN/Code.

2. ndl_books_search

Searches for books in the National Diet Library (NDL) Database using their OpenSearch API.

• Arguments:
  • query (string, required): The search query.
• Returns: A list of NDL catalog results including title, authors, publisher, publication date, NDL link, ISBN, price, and pages.

3. jp_books_get_details

Retrieves rich details and descriptions for a specific book from books.or.jp using its ISBN or internal code.

• Arguments:
  • isbn (string, required): The 13-digit ISBN or JPRO book code.
• Returns: Detailed book metadata including title, author list, publisher, description, cover image URL, size, pages, price, publish/release dates, and raw metadata.

Configuration

You can easily run this MCP server using uvx (part of the uv toolchain) or npx/pipx.

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Using uvx (Recommended)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jp-books-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "jp-books-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Using python (if installed globally or in a virtualenv)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jp-books-mcp": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": [
        "-m",
        "jp_books_mcp.server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor Configuration

To use it in Cursor:

1. Go to Settings > Features > MCP.
2. Click + Add New MCP Server.
3. Set the details:
   • Name: jp-books-mcp
   • Type: command
   • Command: uvx jp-books-mcp

Development

To set up the project locally for development, make sure you have uv installed.

1. Clone the repository and install dependencies

git clone https://github.com/rmc8/jp_books_mcp.git
cd jp_books_mcp
uv sync

2. Running the server locally

uv run jp-books-mcp

3. Running tests and linting

# Code formatting and lint check
uv run ruff check src

# Type checking
uv run mypy src

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.