AltJapan Co., Ltd. is a

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

based company specializing in the translation and localization of Japanese entertainment. It is particularly active in

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and

video game localization Video game localization (American English), or video game localisation (British English; see spelling differences), is the process of preparing a video game for a market outside of where it was originally published. The game's name, art assets, ...

. It specializes in Japanese-to-English and English-to-Japanese translation, but also handles European language localization as well. It has worked on titles for companies including Capcom, Koei-Tecmo, Namco-Bandai, Konami, Taito, Square-Enix, and Platinum Games. Credits include ''

Dragon Quest VIII A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often ...

'', the '' Ninja Gaiden'' series, the ''

Dynasty Warriors Gundam ''Dynasty Warriors: Gundam'', originally released in Japan as , is a 2007 video game based on the ''Gundam'' anime series. It was developed by Omega Force and published by Bandai Namco Games. Its gameplay is derived from Koei's ''Dynasty Warriors'' ...

'' series, '' Lollipop Chainsaw,'' ''

Lost Planet 3 is a third-person shooter action-adventure video game developed by Spark Unlimited and published by Capcom for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is the prequel to '' Lost Planet: Extreme Condition'' and ''Lost Planet 2'' and ...

,'' and the 2014 remake of '' Strider.'' The company also produces the recording sessions for video games as well, most notably on the ''

'' and ''

Dead or Alive Dead or Alive most commonly refers to: * Dead or Alive (band), a British pop band * Dead or alive, a phrase on a wanted poster Dead or Alive may also refer to: Film and television * ''Dead or Alive'' (1921 film), an American silent film dir ...

'' series. In addition to localization, AltJapan is also credited with scriptwriting on titles including Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2,

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword ''Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword'' is a 2008 action-adventure video game released for the Nintendo DS, developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo (in Europe it was published by Ubisoft). A main installment in the ''Ninja Gaiden'' series, it feat ...

, and World of Demons. AltJapan's manga translation credits include '' Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan'', '' Togari'', and '' Dorohedoro''. At the 2013

San Diego Comic-con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

, Fuijko F. Fujio Productions announced that AltJapan would produce the English version of the manga ''

Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with List of Doraemon chapters, its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ' ...

'' in conjunction with Voyager Japan. Inc. Original content produced by AltJapan includes the books ''Hello, Please! Very Helpful Super Kawaii Characters from Japan'' (Chronicle Books, 2007) and the ''Attack!'' series, which includes '' Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide'' (Kodansha, 2008), ''Ninja Attack! True Tales of Assassins, Samurai, and Outlaws'' (Kodansha, 2010), and ''Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide'' (Tuttle, 2012).

Founders

Hiroko Yoda Hiroko Yoda is a Japanese entrepreneur, translator, writer, folklorist, and president of the localization company AltJapan Co., Ltd. She was also a Tokyo city editor for the CNN travel website CNNGo. She is a translator of video games and the auth ...

and

Matt Alt Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

worked together for several years prior to the foundation of their company; their first credit as independent translators was Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for

Working Designs Working Designs was an American video game publisher that specialized in the localization of Japanese role-playing video games, strategy video games and top-down shooters for various platforms. Though the company had published many cult hits, i ...

. Yoda holds a master's degree in international peace and conflict resolution from the American University in Washington, DC. She was also a Tokyo city editor for the

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

travel website CNNGo. Alt is a former translator for the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

. In 2013 he served as a judge for the Manga Translation Battle, and in 2014 he joined the cast of the NHK World television show

Japanology Plus ''Weekend Japanology'', ''Begin Japanology'', and ''Japanology Plus'' are Japanese television programs aired on NHK World, and presented by Peter Barakan Peter Barakan (born 20 August 1951, in London, England) is an English-born DJ, freelance ...

. The pair makes frequent appearances as Japanese pop culture experts in a variety of international media. They made cameo appearances in the film ''

Death Kappa is a 2010 ''kaiju'' film directed by Tomoo Haraguchi. An international co-production of Japan and the United States, it stars Misato Hirata, Mika Sakuraba, and Ryuki Kitaoka. In the film, a series of military experiments result in the appeara ...

'' and participated as extras in '' The Great Yokai War''.

Translation Style

AltJapan is known for pairing native Japanese and native English speakers on its localization projects, a legacy of its founders' own experience working together and a rarity in the early days of the localization industry.

References

{{reflist Translation companies Mass media companies based in Tokyo Mass media companies established in 2000 Japanese companies established in 2000