Random comments * Translation is hard. If you needed something translated to Japanese how would you know it was well done? Maybe you personally have a bunch of

Random comments * Translation is hard. If you needed something translated to Japanese how would you know it was well done? Maybe you personally have a bunch of Japanese friends or colleagues but most people don't. And so it is going the other way. * Especially for games/movies/books translation is not enough. The content needs to be localized. For example jokes need to be funny in the target language. Subtle innuendo in the original language needs to be translated into subtle innuendo in the target language. Cultural references need to be translated into relevant cultural references in the target culture, etc. One company that specializes in game localization (not just translation) is 8-4.jp. They handle not just translation and localization of text but even managing voice work etc... * I've always wished RockStar would make GTA Tokyo (they'd need a ton of local input or a local team). I bring up GTA because so much of those games, at least for me, are full of things that have not been localized and would be nearly impossible to localize unless the game itself took place in the target country. The hardest part is probably the radio stations. Driving around in GTA3 (and the sequels) brought back for me some uncanny feeling of actually driving with the radio on. The DJs, the ads, the different channels from talk channels to the various music genres. You'd need local DJs making local sounding comments about locally popular songs or parodies of those songs, local talk radio, local public service announcements, etc, etc, etc... Also the posters, signs, store names, around the city would all need to be localized so they evoke the same feeling of being in on the joke. And of course hearing local actors voice the characters vs just subtitles. Subtitles for characters dialog is the only thing that's been localized in any GTA game so Japan has never actually experienced one. I'm not even sure the random NPCs get translations but all of that would need to be made into something locals would get. I have no idea if a full localization would be a hit, especially now given console/PC games in Japan are mostly dead, but I've been disappointed that I could never share that experience with my Japanese gamer friends.