I’m very pleased to say that the current issue of Mechademia: Second Arc contains a translation by me of a chapter from a book written by Yonezawa Yoshihiro and Shikijō Kyōtarō, 2B-dan: Gindama sensō no hibi (1983; Squad 2B: The days of the silver ball gun wars), specifically Chapter 3, “Putting a Hand into the Fountain of Knowledge.” Yonezawa of course is justly famous for his involvement with Comiket from its foundation when he was a college student to his death in 2006, and for the posthumous archive of his personal collection at Meiji University. This issue of Mechademia is themed around “New Foundations of the Otaku” and I’m very pleased to have found a home for the translation here–there are many great articles alongside my own contribution.

I was tipped off to the existence of this book by a Twitter user who has since apparently deleted their account. Never let anyone tell you that social media is exclusively bad.