Abstract: In recent years, Japan has placed significant emphasis on the construction of digital archives for cultural resources. Beginning in 2003, the Cabinet Office has continuously issued the “Intellectual Property Strategic Program” annually, progressively planning and establishing an integrated and shared digital cultural resource system centered on Japan Search, which offers valuable insights. This study focuses on 23 “Intellectual Property Strategic Programs” published from 2003 to 2025. Employing the qualitative analysis tool ATLAS.ti and thematic content analysis, it examines the early driving factors, value orientations, strategic mechanisms, and future development trends of digital archive construction. The research reveals that the Japanese governments involvement in digital archive development is an inevitable outcome driven by its national strategic transformation, internal demands, and international trends. Its core objectives are to stimulate economic growth through culture, build a knowledge storage and circulation system, and enhance its international image. By adopting strategies such as establishing a unified search platform with Japan Search at its core to broadly collect various digital cultural contents, promoting the industrial application and diversified utilization of digital resources, advancing metadata standardization, strengthening professional talent cultivation and multi-party collaboration, and improving legal safeguards, Japan has achieved the functional evolution of digital archives from an early emphasis on storage to a later focus on utilization and value creation. The Japanese digital archives provides various references for China in integrating and optimizing digital cultural resources in the context of the national cultural digitization strategy, including top-level design, construction of national-level platforms, resource expansion, and diversified applications.

Key words: digital archives, digital humanities, ATLAS.ti, qualitative analysis, Japan Search