Manga is a 14 billion-dollar industry for Japan, but it would be even bigger if it weren’t for online sites offering stolen versions of the comics. A Tokyo start-up hopes artificial intelligence will ride to the rescue. Its specialized AI system can translate manga into multiple languages in just days, getting the latest volumes into fans’ hands quickly and providing a powerful weapon to fight the pirates.

Unofficial translations are estimated to cost Japanese publishers as much as 5 billion dollars a year, and also pick the pockets of the manga artists who survive on their royalties. Pirates take advantage of the time lag in translating works to rush their versions online before the licensed ones can be released.

The demand for translations now far outstrips the supply. At the New York branch of Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya, manga fans scour the shelves for the latest additions to their collections.

But only a fraction of Japanese manga titles are available in translation. The store has a sign informing customers which manga have yet to be released in English.

Nagai Yasunobu, a manager at Kinokuniya New York, says manga’s popularity is surging. If this trend continues, he says that translating more work will be crucial.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/

Full article: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/3459/