Back in Tokyo after several long days in Aichi talking and watching esports. It was a great experience and I'm grateful to everyone I had the opportunity to speak with while there. #AmInterpreting

Off to Nagoya for the Asian Games bright and early this morning! It's time to watch some esports 😎

Working hard, hardly working. #TGS2026 #AmInterpreting

It's been a busy translation day that I spent mostly learning about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and then translating in-depth explanations about it. I feel like I've learned a second undergraduate degree's worth of knowledge on this project and it's not quite done yet 😂 #AmTranslating

We will be having another Kanto Manga Loc (and More) Meetup on Sept 23 in Tokyo! If you would like to attend or hear more about the meetups, please feel free to message me.

I’m at a major crossroads: I have until 9/20 to fully secure my housing after an ongoing fight for unemployment and state support as a disabled person. And there’s a direct way that you can help have a tangible effect: you can help me keep my home.

Donate to Help Cy Stay Housed, organized by Elise Petersen

I'm raising funds for my friend Cy, who is facing housing insecurity after being unemployed and fal… Elise Petersen needs your support for Help Cy Stay Housed

gofundme.com

Some movie credits run for over ten minutes, but many manga translators have to beg for clients to even allow their work to be listed on a private portfolio, let alone anywhere that the public can actually see and use, and manga production teams are *significantly* smaller. It's obscene, honestly.

I've been very efficient with getting my #ReadingLog for August out because I read a lot of books for #WITMonth, which seems to have motivated me. It was a great book month and I'm hoping for another one in September! Maybe I'll finally get to that ARC I've been putting off... #AmReading

august 2026 reads

August was, without a doubt, the best reading month I've had this year. I read so many books and I enjoyed all of them. There's little more a reader can ask ...

taylordrew.me

Happy to introduce the Gameloc Portfolio Directory on Loc'd and Loaded! Much like its Agency counterpart, this project allows translators working in games, manga, anime etc. to showcase their portfolios, free of algorithmic biases: locdandloaded.net/2026/08/31/g...

Gameloc Portfolio Directory

A great portfolio is one of the most powerful tools in a translator's arsenal - Beyond showcasing your experience and projects, it reflects your own style, vision and facets of your personality that g...

locdandloaded.net

METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Vol.2 is finally here and I'm proud to announce that I did localization support (for like 600 different things that amount to like 10 different credits) for all the titles in the collection! I can't wait to play the games again! 🥳

The latest manga/light novel J-to-E loc industry survey is open now! This is an anonymous ten question survey, this time about health insurance and support. Responses will be posted publicly. forms.cloud.microsoft/r/Nnmxw4AiQR

Andria and her husband suffered a terrible loss last night as their house burned down. They both made it out, but lost all of their things and three beloved cats in the fire. Please consider donating/sharing with others. Andria is such a kind person and amazing translator. gofund.me/b49a76f41

Donate to Help Andria and Nik Recover from House Fire, organized by Alyssa Weldon

Andria McKnight, a veteran translator, is facing a heartbreaking loss afte… Alyssa Weldon needs your support for Help Andria and Nik Recover from House Fire

gofund.me

I don't post much anymore because translation, especially in manga, makes me feel like a squished bug. None of it excites me anymore. It's hard to post when the system functions to dehumanize you as much as possible, even taking away your right to at least share the efforts of your exploitation.

Translator Jan Mitsuko Cash gets standing ovation after winning Best Translation and calling on the manga publishers to double their rates and describes the poor working conditions of translators that create their success.

I wrote my July #ReadingLog finally! I read a lot of great books last month, so I'm happy to finally have it ready to share. Here's hoping to another great reading month in August! taylordrew.me/july-2026-re... #booksky #AmReading

july 2026 reads

I'm a bit late with the July reading log, but that's just how it goes sometimes. Better late than never when it comes to these things anyway. July was an ext...

taylordrew.me

In case anyone is interested in participating, this is a short survey about the manga/light novel loc industry and retirement plans. stateoftheindustrynow.wordpress.com/2026/08/05/s... Results will be posted publicly on this website in a couple of weeks!

Survey #2 Basic Questions Regarding Retirement Plans

This is an anonymous survey for professionals working in the J-to-E manga/light novel localization industry. Results will be publicly shared. Link:

stateoftheindustrynow.wordpress.com

I've lived in Japan for 11 years and speak Japanese relatively fluently, yet I listened to the first 20 minutes of a podcast the other day thinking it was about Black (ブラック) feminism when it was in fact about buraku (部落) feminism. None of us are perfect 🤣

Our Kickstarter is live! Help support another year of speculative fiction by immigrant & diaspora writers over at @Kickstarter. 🧡 With your help, we can keep funding our work, expand to regular author interviews, raise our artist pay, & more! Support us at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/kho...

Posting my #ReadingLog just because. It's a short list, but I'm just happy that I'm still managing to find time to read whenever I can. Any time spent on books is time that I managed to free myself from the clutches of doomscrolling on social media. Truly love that for me. #AmReading #BookSky

june 2026 reads

June felt like a very fulfilling reading month even though I didn't actually read that much. I'm not sure if that's because the book I just finished—notably ...

taylordrew.me

The Screentoney Award for "Best Soundboard for Random Thoughts and More!" goes to @mollymay5000.bsky.social screentoneys.com/award?id=39403

We will be having another Kanto Manga Loc (and More) Meetup on June 29, 2026 in Tokyo! If you would like to attend or know more about the meetups, please feel free to message me.

Today I interpreted a meeting at work and had a brief lapse where I forgot what to call a national university in Japanese. Luckily my colleagues know basic English and it wasn't *too* awkward. In my defense though, interpreting an hour meeting at the end of the day is hard work 😂 #AmInterpreting

I wrote a new #ReadingLog and there's lots of manga and throwbacks to work I did when I was a newbie in the industry! Felt weird! It was fun anyway though! Check it out if you want to know more :) #AmReading

may 2026 reads

Another month gone by, another reading to write. A funny fact (I guess?) about these reading logs is that I actually copy and paste the format from the previ...

taylordrew.me

We will be having a Manga Loc (and more!) Meetup on June 5th in the evening! These casual meetups are open to people working in manga, light novel, game, etc. localization. Aspiring folks are also welcome to join! If you’d like to attend or want more information, feel free to DM me.

‘PEN Translates x SALT is open to publishers anywhere outside South Asia. The program provides grants for new books in translation from any language of South Asia’ www.englishpen.org/translation/... Deadlines: May 31 (UK Spring), November 30 (UK Autumn) #xl8

Current translation grant opportunities - English PEN

Our grants for translated literature support the movement of words and ideas across national and linguistic borders, championing bibliodiversity and reflecting the PEN Charter’s declaration that "lite...

englishpen.org

I’m NOT excited and I’m NOT thrilled. I’m honestly scared to share this, but I’m not a coward. I have to show you what you helped us create. None of this would have been possible without your help, and we can’t finish it without your support www.launchgood.com/1948 youtu.be/D4qh1FAPEUo

Dreams on a Pillow - Official Gameplay First Look

YouTube video by Rasheed Abueideh

youtu.be

Just submitted the last bit of work required of me (probably) for a project I've been working on since the summer. Feels strange for it to be off my schedule now after spending so much time with it. It was a challenging situation, but I learned a lot! Very grateful for the experience.

Very heavy cognitive load for my translation today. I've been jumping from social science discipline to social science discipline since I woke up this morning and there's a lot yet left to do. I also had to learn a little bit about the disposal of industrial waste. What's next? 🥴 #AmTranslating

It's time for another review! Thanks to #NetGalley and @solarisbooks.bsky.social for the copy! What a wonderfully complex and hopeful little book that sounds like it's about zombies, but isn't. Can't complain about a book told in multiple POVs either. Highly recommend. #AmReading #BookReview

the many by sylvain neuvel

I'm back with another review of an ARC I very graciously received through NetGalley. As always, I'm a bit late with the review since the book is now out and ...

taylordrew.me

💐情報解禁💐今年もやります #難民・移民フェス 。ワイワイと回を重ねて第７回！いつも応援ありがとうございます。今回は都会の真ん中でにぎやかに。詳細は追ってお伝えいたします。 第7回　難民・移民フェス 日時　2026年6月6日（土）13時〜16時 場所　聖アンデレ教会（東京都港区）