Deciphering Japanese

Have you ever encountered any Japanese writing and inscriptions on some Japanese artifacts like katana, sadō equipments, traditional drawings, etc?

Or, do you have a photo, painting, poster, or just any document that has something that looks like Japanese writing but you don’t know how to read them?

We accept any types of photo or image, from old manuscripts to modern-day artwork that has Japanese writing on it, and we will decipher the Japanese there into English.

Please read the terms and conditions below

Pricing

We charge the fees in Japanese Yen (JPY). Please contact your card issuer about the exchange rate applied.

• Base price: 1,500 JPY
  • If it is a manuscript or woodblock-printed, not printed in type: + 1,000 JPY
  • If you want a detailed translation notes and additional historical information: + 500 JPY

How it works

This service is completely online. We do not accept physical manuscripts.

1. Submit your data online
2. We check if your data looks readable
3. If your data looks alright, we ask you to pay the fees
4. After your payment is confirmed, we work on translations etc.
5. We deliver the translations etc. by email.

Terms and Conditions

Please Note:

• It is your responsibility to check that the transcription/transliteration/translation etc. does not violate copyright law and other intellectual property regulations in your country and in the country where the written work originates. We cannot advise you on legal risks of your request, nor should we be liable for the transcription etc.
• To contribute to the global and local communities through academic research, we share the transcribed/transliterated text, the original image, meta-data etc. (see here for the full list of information collected and shared for research) with researchers and research institutions, primarily if the text was written in the 1860s or earlier. If you would like to opt out from this, please inform your intent when submitting your data.
• Please check your email as we might contact you when we need more information to decipher.
• Our translations and analyses are purely our opinion, and we do not guarantee its quality or correctness.
• Our deciphering service is solely an aid for your understanding, and it does not guarantee any value or authenticity of the item.
• The cost of your network connection to use our services is at your expense.
• Depending on the contents, quality of data provided and/or other conditions, we may not be able to decipher your data.
• If we accept your payment but decide that your data is not decipherable, we will refund the fees except transaction fees.