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Greg Mathews is scanning issues of Drift Tengoku, a Japanese drifting magazine published from April 1996 to February 2024, and making the scans available online with English translations. He says he has about 400 issues and plans to keep working on the archive; an Internet Archive employee has offered to connect him with volunteer help.
Greg Mathews is scanning and translating back issues of Drift Tengoku, a Japanese magazine devoted to drifting that ceased publication in February 2024. The archive, currently hosted on Mathews’ personal website, aims to make the magazine’s print coverage accessible to readers who cannot read Japanese; an employee at the Internet Archive has offered to connect him with volunteers to help preserve the collection.
Drift Tengoku ran from April 1996 through February 2024. Mathews, who subscribed while it was still publishing, has continued collecting copies through Yahoo Auctions Japan. He told The Drive he has around 400 issues and is still adding to the collection. The report describes him scanning every issue he can obtain, though it does not say how many have been digitized so far.
Mathews uses optical character recognition (OCR) and translation tools to produce digital versions that can be read in English. He previously used an office scanner, which he said took about two hours per issue. He has since developed a faster setup: an overhead camera takes images when an app he made detects that the page is no longer moving. He initially bought a dedicated camera for about $100, then switched to a Sony A6300 he already owned for better image quality.
Scanned issues are available at driftmagarchive.com, a personal web server Mathews maintains. He told The Drive that hosting costs are low and that the project adds about $5 per month to expenses he was already paying. The report says an Internet Archive employee saw one of his TikTok videos and offered to connect him with volunteers; it does not say the material has already been transferred to the Internet Archive.
Keeping Drift Tengoku Accessible
The effort addresses a practical barrier to researching Japanese drifting culture: the magazine’s original coverage is in Japanese and was printed rather than published as a searchable digital archive. Scans paired with OCR and translation can make at least some of that material easier for readers outside Japan to find and understand.
Digitization also gives fragile or hard-to-find print issues a second route to readers. Mathews’ work is a personal project, not a commercial archive, and its durability currently depends on his continued effort and the availability of his website. A possible move to the Internet Archive could add volunteer capacity and a separate public-access home, though the timing and arrangements have not been detailed.
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From Print Issues to Digital Scans
Drift Tengoku’s title is written in Japanese as ドリフト天国 and is roughly translated as “Drift Heaven” or “Drift Paradise,” according to The Drive. Its run lasted nearly 28 years, ending in February 2024. Mathews began subscribing during that run and later sought out additional copies through Yahoo Auctions Japan.
The project grew out of Mathews’ interest in cars and his experience in technology and software engineering. The Drive reports that he owns two Nissan S13 240SXs, is part of the Good Luck League crew and runs Flock Manufacturing, which makes customizable gauges. The report also says other people have contacted him about scanning old car publications, suggesting the effort is part of a broader interest in preserving automotive print material.
Mathews told The Drive that online attention has brought encouragement and contact from people working on similar projects, including groups scanning old car magazines. One of his recent Instagram Reels about the archive had more than 450,000 views, according to the report. That is a view count for the post, not a measure of the archive’s readership or the number of issues preserved.
““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 Transfer Details
The report does not specify how many issues have been scanned, how complete the online collection is, or how many remain to be found. It also does not describe the accuracy of the OCR or English translations, whether every issue can be translated, or what access conditions apply to the scans.
The Internet Archive connection is described as an offer of volunteer help, not a completed transfer or a formal partnership. The report gives no schedule for such a move, and Mathews has not set an end date for the work. It also remains unclear whether the archive will be expanded to include other publications and how any future hosting or preservation costs would be handled.
Scanning Continues Without a Set End
Mathews plans to continue the project for as long as he enjoys doing it, according to The Drive. He is still seeking additional issues, and volunteers may help with the work if the Internet Archive connection develops. No launch date for a larger hosted collection has been announced.
For now, readers can consult the scans posted on driftmagarchive.com. Mathews has also invited people interested in helping or following the effort to contact him through Instagram and his other social channels, as reported by The Drive. The next clear milestones would be further additions to the personal archive and any confirmed volunteer-supported transfer to the Internet Archive.
Key Questions
What is Drift Tengoku?
Drift Tengoku is a Japanese magazine focused on drifting. According to The Drive, it was published from April 1996 until February 2024.
Who is building the archive?
Greg Mathews, a car enthusiast with a background in technology and software engineering, is collecting and scanning issues. He told The Drive that he has around 400 copies in his collection.
Can readers access the scans now?
Yes. The Drive reports that scanned issues are available on Mathews’ personal site, driftmagarchive.com. The source does not state how many issues are currently online.
Are the issues available in English?
Mathews uses OCR and translation tools to make digital copies readable in English. The report does not establish that every issue has been fully translated or explain how translation accuracy is checked.
Has the archive moved to the Internet Archive?
Not according to the report. An Internet Archive employee offered to connect Mathews with volunteers, but no transfer date or completed move was reported.
Source: thedrive.com
