Hi! I'm Ikue Hirata | 平田郁恵

EN -> JA Videogame Localization Specialist with a Systems-Oriented Engineering Mindset

Overview

I am a professional EN→JA videogame translator with extensive experience in large-scale commercial projects, spanning from AAA to indie titles.

My work in videogame localization began in 2017 as a side practice alongside my role as a postdoctoral researcher. As I became more involved, I found that the work naturally aligned with an engineering way of thinking — working within constraints, diagnosing structural issues, and refining processes — which led me to shift my primary occupation to localization.

Regardless of the project’s size, I have learned that quality is often lost not in translation itself, but in the surrounding process. Drawing on the problem-defining and solution-oriented thinking developed through academic research, my approach focuses on reducing avoidable friction, allowing consistent quality to be maintained even in fast-paced, tight deadline-driven production environments. For long-running titles, the ability to maintain coherence over time — even as content, teams, and constraints change — is often as critical as translation quality itself.

For me, efficiency and systemization exist for one reason: to make high-quality translation sustainable over time. I structure my work so that attention remains on the videogame itself — its mechanics, narrative intent, and player experience — rather than on avoidable operational distractions.