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Greg Mathews is digitizing issues of Drift Tengoku, a Japanese magazine published from April 1996 to February 2024, and making scans available on driftmagarchive.com. He says his collection contains about 400 issues; volunteers may help move the archive to the Internet Archive, though a completion date has not been announced.
Greg Mathews is digitizing and translating issues of Drift Tengoku, a Japanese magazine devoted to drifting that published from April 1996 until February 2024. The scans available so far are hosted at driftmagarchive.com, giving readers a way to access material that is difficult to find and, for many outside Japan, difficult to read.
Mathews told The Drive he subscribed to the magazine while it was in print and later bought additional copies through Yahoo Auctions Japan. He said he now has around 400 issues in his collection and continues to seek more. His project involves scanning each issue and using optical character recognition (OCR) and translation tools to make its contents more accessible in English.
The work has become faster since Mathews changed his equipment. A conventional office scanner took him about two hours per issue, he said. He now uses an overhead camera and an app he built to take pictures when it detects that the page is still. The project’s current scans are on a personal web server that he maintains; he told The Drive that hosting costs are low and add about $5 per month to expenses he was already paying.
Mathews said he does not make money from the archive and is paying for the work himself. The Drive reported that an Internet Archive employee contacted him after seeing one of his TikToks and offered to connect him with volunteers. That could help the material reach another platform, but the report does not give a transfer schedule or confirm which issues would be included.
Preserving Drift’s Print Record
Drift Tengoku’s long run captured nearly three decades of Japanese drifting culture in a print format that is not automatically searchable or available online. Digitizing the pages can help preserve material that might otherwise remain scattered among private collections and secondhand listings, and make it easier for enthusiasts and researchers to consult.
Language is another barrier. Mathews’ OCR and translation process is intended to make at least some of the Japanese-language content readable to people who cannot read Japanese. The project is a personal preservation effort, however, not a confirmed complete or professionally verified translation of every issue. Its value will depend on what can be scanned, how accurately the text is recognized and translated, and whether the files remain accessible over time.
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A Magazine’s 1996–2024 Run
Drift Tengoku, written in Japanese as ドリフト天国 and loosely translated as “Drift Heaven” or “Drift Paradise,” was published from April 1996 to February 2024. The magazine’s closure left past issues as printed records rather than a continuing publication. The Drive described it as the first magazine dedicated to drifting; that description is the report’s characterization.
Mathews’ effort is part of a wider interest in scanning older car magazines. He told The Drive that people have contacted him about similar projects, including groups working on other automotive publications. The report said some of the issues he has scanned are already available through his site, while the possibility of volunteer assistance from the Internet Archive remains a future development.
““Now that I’ve been posting about it a little bit, other people are reaching out who are doing similar things.””
— Greg Mathews, speaking to The Drive
Archive Scope and Timing
The final size and completion date are not known. Mathews has around 400 issues, but the report does not establish how many issues Drift Tengoku published in total, how many have been scanned, or how many remain to be found. It also does not state whether every scanned issue has been fully processed with OCR and translated.
The Internet Archive’s proposed volunteer support is not described as a completed partnership or a confirmed migration. The report does not specify how rights and permissions for making the magazine pages available online will be handled. Mathews said he intends to continue while the work remains enjoyable, leaving the project’s pace dependent on his time, access to copies, and any volunteer help.
More Scans and Possible Volunteers
Mathews says he is continuing to collect and scan issues, with the current material available at driftmagarchive.com. He may receive help from volunteers connected through the Internet Archive, but no launch date for an Internet Archive collection has been announced. Readers interested in participating or following progress can contact him through his social media accounts, as described in The Drive’s report.
For now, the archive’s next steps depend on locating more copies and continuing the scanning and text-processing work. Whether the collection will eventually cover every issue, and how it may be maintained or expanded, remains open.
Key Questions
What is Drift Tengoku?
Drift Tengoku was a Japanese magazine focused on drifting. According to The Drive, it was published from April 1996 through February 2024.
Who is digitizing the magazine?
Greg Mathews, a car enthusiast and software engineer, is collecting issues, scanning their pages, and using OCR and translation tools to make the material more accessible.
Where can readers see the scans?
Issues scanned so far are hosted on Mathews’ site, driftmagarchive.com. The report says an Internet Archive employee offered to connect him with volunteers, but it does not confirm a collection there or give a date.
Has the complete back catalog been archived?
That has not been confirmed. Mathews said he has around 400 issues, but the report does not state how many issues the magazine published in total or how many have been scanned and processed.
Is the archive project paid work?
The Drive reported that Mathews does not make money from the project and pays hosting and other costs himself. He said the hosting adds about $5 per month to costs he was already covering.
Source: thedrive.com
