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5 Chinese Nationals Arrested in Japan for Translating Manga, Games for Distribution
posted on by Egan Loo
Police from Kyoto, Yamaguchi, Shizuoka, Mie, and Shimane Prefectures announced on Wednesday that they have arrested five Chinese nationals for translating dialogue from Japanese manga and games into Chinese for unauthorized distribution. According to the police, at least two itted to the charges. The suspects, who range in age from 23 to 28, are allegedly part of a translating group that distributed Chinese-translated manga, anime, and other materials online.
Two of the five arrested were a 24-year-old female LaLa magazine.)
The graduate student allegedly translated the dialogue of characters in a game based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Tag Force Special (pictured left).
The arrests are the first publicized ones for of the translating group. Four of the suspects are voluntarily cooperating with the investigation, which aims to file charges for copyright infringement.
According to the police, the translating group is composed of volunteers online. The group's promoter and described leader assembled from online boards and other venues, and then assigned them to either translation or distribution. The two female suspects described above were responsible for translation. They allegedly posted on Weibo, the popular Chinese social media service roughly equivalent to Twitter, and the translated works could then be read and ed on other sites.
The police said that the group translated Japanese manga, games, and game magazines for public distribution on Chinese sites from January 2015 to January 2018. One of the cited titles is Kimi ni Todoke - From Me to You manga.
The translating group allegedly translated over 15,000 manga items without permission. The police's t investigation unit is looking into whether the two suspects above are involved in the translation of other works.
A 2013 inquiry by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs asserted that unauthorized distribution of Japanese anime, manga, and games on Chinese Internet sites led to a loss of 3.8 trillion yen ($35 billion).
Thanks to crosswithyou for the news tip
Sources: Sankei West, Asahi Shimbun
Update: The Association of Copyright for Computer Software reports that one of the suspects, a 23-year-old female company worker from Niiza City in Saitama Prefecture, translated the 123rd and final Kimi ni Todoke - From Me to You manga chapter. Police from Kanagawa, Ishikawa, Gifu, and Shiga Prefectures also worked on the case.
The association reports that if convicted, the suspects face up to 10 years in prison, up to 10 million yen ($90,000) in fines, or both. The suspects could also face civil lawsuits with additional levies for damages and orders to delete files.
