Rakuten Books Scraper - Japan Media Data

Search and extract data from Rakuten Books, Japan's largest online bookstore, via the official Rakuten Books API. Access books, CDs, DVDs, and video games with full metadata including titles, authors, prices, ISBNs, reviews, and availability status.

What It Does

This Actor queries the Rakuten Books API to collect structured data on Japanese media products:

• Books: Title, author, publisher, ISBN, page count, preview URLs, sales date
• CDs: Title, artist, label, JAN code, band info, release date
• DVDs: Title, artist/director, label, JAN code, release date
• Games: Title, hardware platform, label, JAN code, release date

All media types include pricing, review scores, review counts, image URLs, genre classification, and availability information.

Use Cases

• Book market research: Analyze pricing trends, popular genres, and publisher output in the Japanese book market
• Media catalog building: Build comprehensive databases of Japanese books, music, movies, and games
• Price comparison: Track and compare prices across different media categories
• Publishing analytics: Monitor new releases, bestsellers, and review performance
• ISBN/JAN lookup: Find specific items by their unique identifiers
• Academic research: Collect data on Japanese publishing and media industries

Features

• Search across all media types simultaneously (Total Search) or by specific category
• Filter by keyword, title, author/artist, publisher, ISBN, or genre ID
• Sort by price, release date, review count, or review average
• Filter for only available (in-stock) items
• Collect up to 3,000 results per query
• Built-in rate limiting to comply with API guidelines
• Automatic pagination handling
• Unified data format across all media types

Input

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
application_id	string	Yes	-	Rakuten API Application ID (free at https://webservice.rakuten.co.jp/)
access_key	string	Yes	-	Rakuten API Access Key (required since Feb 2026 migration)
mode	string	No	total	Search mode: total, book, cd, dvd, game
keyword	string	No	-	Search keyword
title	string	No	-	Title search (book/cd/dvd/game modes)
author	string	No	-	Author or artist name
publisher	string	No	-	Publisher name (book mode only)
isbn	string	No	-	ISBN code (book mode only)
genre_id	string	No	-	Rakuten Books genre ID
sort	string	No	standard	Sort order
availability	boolean	No	true	Only return available items
max_results	integer	No	100	Maximum results (1-3000)

Output

Each item in the dataset contains:

{
    "title": "Python入門",
    "title_kana": "パイソンニュウモン",
    "author": "山田太郎",
    "author_kana": "ヤマダタロウ",
    "publisher_name": "技術評論社",
    "item_price": 2980,
    "sales_date": "2024-01-15",
    "isbn": "9784774199306",
    "jan": null,
    "item_url": "https://books.rakuten.co.jp/rb/12345/",
    "image_url": "https://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/test.jpg",
    "small_image_url": "...",
    "medium_image_url": "...",
    "large_image_url": "...",
    "review_count": 42,
    "review_average": 4.5,
    "availability": "1",
    "item_caption": "Pythonの基礎から応用まで",
    "genre_id": "001004015",
    "media_type": "book"
}

API Credentials

This Actor requires two credentials from Rakuten Web Service (both free):

1. Application ID (application_id): Your Rakuten API application identifier
2. Access Key (access_key): Required since the Feb 2026 API migration to openapi.rakuten.co.jp

Get both at Rakuten Web Service. Registration is free and provides immediate access.

Rate Limits

The Rakuten API allows approximately 1 request per second. This Actor automatically handles rate limiting. Maximum data per query is 3,000 items (30 per page x 100 pages).