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Distribution of "Yahoo! Chiebukuro" data

(This is a translation of the Japanese version and is provided for informational purposes only.)

The "Yahoo! Chiebukuro" data is distributed to researchers from the National Institute of Informatics based on a contract with the Yahoo Japan Corporation. Please make any inquiries for details to the secretariat shown below by e-mail.

• Outline of data

"Yahoo! Chiebukuro" is the largest knowledge retrieval service in Japan, and the Yahoo Japan Corporation has been providing this service since April 2004. Their aim is to connect people who want to question and those who want to answer, and the sharing of wisdom and knowledge among the participants. We provide data consisting of 3.11 million questions and 13.47 million answers (total text size of 1.6 billion characters) submitted between April 2004 and October 2005 out of about 10 million questions and about 35 million answers currently stored.


• Data use conditions

Participants of NTCIR Project (Project for Building Test Collections for Evaluation of Information Retrieval Systems) and researchers in the fields related to the project can apply for the distribution. Use of the data is limited to only for research purposes. Moreover, there are specific conditions on the publication of research results. Please inquire about the details.


• Application procedure

(Please notice that all the necessary provided documents are only in Japanese at this time.)
1. First, please ask the secretariat for the application form. The application form and notices concerning data handling will be attached to the returned e-mail.
2. Please fill in the form and submit it by e-mail.
3. Your application will be examined by an examination committee set up by the National Institute of Informatics, based on the content of the application form. Please understand that since the examination is based on the contract between the Yahoo Japan Corporation and the National Institute of Informatics, there might be some cases where we cannot meet your request.
4. When the application has been accepted by the examination committee, the user and the National Institute of Informatics will exchange memorandums of understanding (MOU).
1. The MOU form will be sent by e-mail. Please make sure to read and clearly understand the MOU's content upon receipt.
2. Please print out two copies of the MOU form; then fill in, sign, stamp, and send both copies by postal mail to the secretariat.
3. One of the copies will be sent back after being stamped with the National Institute of Informatics seal. Please keep the copy in your files for reference.
5. After the MOU is concluded, the data will be provided.


• Data distribution method

The data will usually be provided by download from a Web server. If any technical problems occur in downloading the data, please contact us and we will consider an alternative medium.


• Inquiry (secretariat)


Informatics Research Data Repository Group
National Institute of Informatics
E-mail: idr (at) nii.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-3-4212-2515 (Prof. Keizo Oyama)
(Please use e-mail for communicating with us as long as possible if not otherwise specified.)


• Related link
• "Starting research of new information retrieval technologies for Web 2.0 --- New evolution of information access through research using 'Yahoo! Chiebukuro.'" Press release material (in Japanese)
• "Yahoo! Chiebukuro" service site (in Japanese)
• "NTCIR Project" home page