All contents moved from old to new archive blog! Finally!

News from 2019.04.03-04
Archived on 2019.04.22

Woohoo, I finally finished transferring all contents from the old archive blog on Tumblr.
I'm really glad to have decided to move to Blogger, things are much easier and intuitive over here. My motivation for the archiving work (which is really time consuming and can become very repetitive) is much higher now.
It's a shame I didn't do it right from the beginning, but - late is better than never.

Anyway, thank your for those who donated for the work I do! I really appreciate your support.
If you want something to be translated, just tell me and I'll do my best, though it would most likely take some time!

🔵Thank you for supporting SonicJPNews. And thank you to those of you who sent me ko-fi at the very start of this account to the renewal of archive blog last month. I am grateful for your kindness.

If you like SonicJPNews and wanna buy me a cup of tea…🍵https://t.co/qiUnY8wH5K

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 3, 2019

Also, all of the contents from the old archive on Tumblr were moved to the new one on Blogger. Most of them are translation of various interesting interviews. Check them out!https://t.co/EKzH1VwSbM

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 3, 2019

If you want something Sonic-related to be translated from Japanese to English, you can send them to me over replies or DMs.
Since this is a free-time hobby project I can't guarantee you to get them done quickly, but suggestions for materials are always welcome.

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 3, 2019

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SonicJPNews in #MetallicMadness by TSSZ!

News from 2019.03.21
Archived on 2019.03.26

It was SonicJPNews' 2nd anniversary yesterday, and something cool happened to this account!

SonicJPNews was chosen as one of the competitors in Metallic Madness tornament by TSSZ!

Here it is: The 2019 #MetallicMadness Sonic Scene of 64! Voting starts Thursday at approx. 2PM ET! There is no prize; only pride for the winner and aghast at the fact we've now done this for four straight years. pic.twitter.com/TJjW9QmfD7

— TSSZ (@tssznews) March 19, 2019

That was a total surprise for me. So I guess I can say that my account is now widely recognized as a part of the Sonic news site communities! Cool thing :)

Oh? Looks like I'm one of the competitors in Metallic Madness by TSSZ this year! What a surprise. I feel honored!

Voting starts in 5 hours. Check out @tssznews for event info! https://t.co/AEeo0YWO0r

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 21, 2019

And thank you for those who voted for me! I was out in the first round, but it was my first time so I wasn't surprised. Maybe next year!

Our last community division match of the day is also underway!

— TSSZ (@tssznews) March 21, 2019

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2nd Anniversary of SonicJPNews! Thank you everyone!

News from 2019.03.20
Archived on 2019.03.23

It was the 2nd anniversary of my SonicJPNews account! Time flies.
Here are my messages I posted on Twitter. Thank you everyone for your support! I wish my free time hobby is also helpful to other people.

Oh! Looks like it's the 2nd anniversary of SonicJPNews!🎉

2 years ago I started out this project by collecting and translating tweets related to Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania, in the hope to reduce misunderstandings on information given by the Japanese side.
My follower count - pic.twitter.com/SGTvRd1B1h

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 20, 2019

- reached 100 on day 1 and continued to grow, now surpassing 2k. Some of my followees followed me back too. Incredible!

After 2 years, now we are expecting Team Sonic Racing and more information on new major Sonic games.
Let's see what future awaits us!#MyTwitterAnniversary

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 20, 2019

So everyone, thank you all for your support! I started this to help the worldwide Sonic community, and I wish to continue to do so.

If you need to remember what happened back in those days, take a look at my new archive blog!https://t.co/EKzH1VOtAm

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 20, 2019

And if you like what I do, please consider supporting me through ko-fi.

Thank you very much!
https://t.co/qiUnY8wH5K

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 20, 2019

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Naka-san on Hisashi Suzuki-san's interview

News from 2019.03.16
Archived on 2019.03.19

Upon reading an article of a series called "Tale-tellers of Video Games" by Fumio Kurokawa (former SEGA employee), Naka-san talks about his memory with Hisashi Suzuki-san back in the time in SEGA.

Visit the original article first!
https://www.4gamer.net/games/999/G999905/20190302005/




Brief information translated from the article:

Sonic series voice actors to the disaster of 8 years ago

News from 2019.03.11
Archived on 2019.03.13

3.11 is the day not to be forgotten in Japan. 8 years ago from today, a massive natural disaster, followed by a man-made disaster, destroyed the Touhoku region of Japan. There are still thousands of victims who have not recovered from that day.

Some of the voice actors of Sonic series expressed their concern and prayer for those affected on Twitter. (some examples below)

おはようございます
3.11から8年

— 神奈延年 (@ennen_7) March 11, 2019

"Good morning
It's been 8 years since 3.11"
-- Nobutoshi Kanna (voice of Knuckles)

【あの日、私は…】
新宿高層ビル群のクリニックに健診で訪れ、内視鏡検査の直後でした。まるで荒波の船内にいるようでした。グニャッと曲がりながら揺れる高層ビルの恐ろしい光景は今も忘れません。出来ることから少しずつ。#感伝祭2019 #日俳連 https://t.co/H8Tc4QPxRe

— 金丸淳一 かねまる じゅんいち 声の演じ手、歌い手。Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) March 11, 2019

"[On that day, I was...]
Right after a check-up endoscopy at a clinic in a high buildling of Shinjuku. It was like being in a ship in raging waves. I have not forgotten the fearful scene with bending scyscrapers while they were shook. We do what we can do, step by step."
 --- Junichi Kanemaru (voice for Sonic)

🔵Voice actors for Sonic series are praying for the Tohoku region, which was struck by earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant meltdown 8 years ago from today.

Search '3.11' on Yahoo JAPAN to raise 10 yen per person for donation for recovery of victims from the catastrophe. https://t.co/6xcV0Z09uv

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 11, 2019

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🍵 Instead of me, please support the victims of the disaster by donation to Japanese Red Cross Society.
✙ http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/donate/

Photo: Naka-san and Sonic Team in San Francisco

News from 2019.03.04
Archived on 2019.03.07

Naka-san looks back on his time in San Francisco as he posted a picture from that time: Sonic Team in CA. It must've been a really good time there.

サンフランシスコにあったソニックチームです。ソニックアドベンチャー2、ソニックヒーローズ等を作っていたメンバーで年間に何回もこのオフィスに行ってソニック最新作を作っていたのは本当に楽しかったです。カリフォルニアの空気がソニックを良くしていると思ってました https://t.co/L0t87NS30k

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) March 4, 2019

🔵Naka-san on a team photo: "This was Sonic Team in San Francisco. It was really fun to be in that office several times a year with the members who created SA2, Sonic Heroes etc. to develop new Sonic games there. I've thought that the atmosphere of California made Sonic good." https://t.co/xyFD3qSNPe

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 5, 2019

Hopefully Iizuka-san moving to the US is giving more of this 'California atmosphere' into future Sonic games again.

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🍵Please support me through Ko-fi! A nostalgic flavor, maybe.

First Tweets by SonicJPNews

News from 2017.03.22
Archived on 2019.03.05

These were the very first tweets I made with the brand new account. The set-off!

Hi community!
Here is the account where Japanese Sonic news will be retweeted, translated and posted. May not be the fastest, but correct!三🔵

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 22, 2017

I decided to create this account as I noticed some information about Sonic written in Japanese are sometimes mistaken by non-JP-speakers. 三🔵

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 22, 2017

So, here is my try to translate some important Japanese Sonic info into English!
I'll try to deliver as much details as possible. 三🔵

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 22, 2017

For the next few days I'll focus on news about the 25th anniversary games "Sonic Mania" & "Sonic Forces". Let's see how this is gonna work!🔴

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 22, 2017

As new pieces of information on upcoming Sonic games were anticipated, I was very motivated and wanted to start translating stuff right away.


But before that, I had to set my own tweeting style so people can recognize my tweets easily.

Initially, I intended to mark my tweets as follows, thinking that the round blue ball next to 三 (kanji for the number three, which should resemble speeding lines) would look like Sonic doing spin dash. And the red ball for the finito.

🔵- will be shown with this symbol 🔵- at the beginning.

The last tweet of the whole thread will be marked with a '🔴', just like this one! 🔴

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 27, 2017

One thing I forgot to mension:
If a translation doesn't fit in one tweet, I'm showing it with the 三🔵(or 三⭕) at the end.
It's continuation三🔵

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) March 27, 2017

As you can see in tweets from a month later following these, I noticed that many people didn't seem to read the whole thread. I realized that the symbols might not be visible from some people's phones; or I wasn't posting fast enough. IAs I had to switch my keyboard between Japanese and English, it also became more and more bothering to type these sybmols in when I was very busy or tired and still had to do translations. (Back then I was less lazy and translated tweets immediately as I found them - and that for EVERY tweet that seemed somehow relevant, even when they were more of daily comments and diaries of Sonic Team members)

All that overwork was taking too much time away from me, so I changed my tweeting style to a less frequent one. I don't translate everything if they seem very straightforward or when I don't have enough time and passion for. I hope you understand.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the blue spin-dashing Sonic at the beginning of my tweets is enough to see who is writing at one glance. Right? :)

(Additional comments from: 2019.03.09)

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Short History of SonicJPNews

2017.03.20 - now

The following tweets were the starting point of SonicJPNews.

you're very welcome!😁
I know that feeling of not neing able to get full info because of the language wall. I noticed today that -

— Knuttunk(クヌート) (@Knuttunk55) March 20, 2017

-many English speakers are getting some important Japanese Sonic info wrong… I'm thinking about creating special account for it.

— Knuttunk(クヌート) (@Knuttunk55) March 20, 2017

where I post original and translated Japanese Sonic news. What do you think? :)

— Knuttunk(クヌート) (@Knuttunk55) March 20, 2017

Sure! Thank you for the encouragement! I'll try to make it work today or tomorrow and will let you know :)

— Knuttunk(クヌート) (@Knuttunk55) March 20, 2017

It was that moment when saw somebody showing their disapprovement over a google-translation of a Japanese tweet fom Shun Nakamura-san, the producer of Sonic Forces, who had been giving out hints and sneak-peeks of the upcoming game.

It went like this: the person understood the tweet as the game's next trailer comes in fall, which would be almost half a year from that day.
In the original tweet, however, it was stated that the game's FINAL trailer would come somewhere in autumn. Not the next one.

Some people reacted negatively to the mistranslated information, which I did not see as a good sign.  If their misunderstanding remains, it would do no good for both fans and developers.

When I was talking about this small incident on how a small translation error could lead to huge gap in information, and how I could make a Twitter account dedicated for Sonic with translations of Japanese tweets into English to avoid such trouble, a friend on Twitter, Menno, encounraged me to realize the idea - so I did!


I decided on the name for the new account rather quickly. I wanted to make it simple and easy to remember.
The name SonicJPNews is a combination of three words: Sonic (obvious, yeah), JPN (= Japan) and News.
You can call it however you want, but I personally read it as 'Sonic J-P-news'.
Actually I'm curious how you read it - Sonic Japan News? Japanews would sound funny, too.

Then I drew this little Sonic icon inspired by 'Sonic the Sketchhog' of the official Sonic website. This little smiling Sonic has been my buddy ever since.

Anyway, I hope to be a help of those who want to catch up with Japanese news which are Sonic and SEGA related.
Enjoy!

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🍵Please support me through Ko-fi! I'm not a fan of coffee, but a cup of hot tea would help me translate things faster.