About
^I’m a big fan of Renko and Merry and of this artist 心太 “Tokoroten”
Contact Information:
email: kafka.fuura#^#gmail.com (replace #^# with an at symbol)
twitter: ZephyrRz (I tweet often)
chat: #snax@irc.rizon.net (is usually where I idle) (Nick:KafkaFuura)
-The easiest way to get in touch with me is to leave a comment on one of the more recent posts, I check comments regularly and I get email notices about them too, so don’t worry – I’ll see them ^_^.
-I don’t follow everyone that follows me on Twitter, (I don’t like my timeline to get too busy), but I check my @mentions pretty regularly ^_^.
About Me:
Hello, I’m Kafka Fuura (pen-name) (花深風羅).
I am an English-to-Japanese translator and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of arts in ‘Asian Cultures and Languages with a concentration in Japanese’ and an Japanese Language and Proficiency Test (JLPT) N1 certification (highest level). I still consider myself a student of Japanese literature and am always studying to increase what knowledge I know. I am an avid fan of the Touhou Project in all its forms, mahjong, light novels and anime. I am a figure collector and Akiba-kei. I am a recovering hikikomori. I am a reader, a writer, an ex-programmer, ex-electrical engineering student, ex-mathematician. I am a minimalist and so subsist. I am an atheist and a liberal and a non-active (democratic) socialist. I am (X╹_____╹) and (・ω・´) and ヽ(╹ε╹)ノ and (・∀・) and ハッΣ(・ω・).
Site History:
So I started a livejournal in January of 2009 back when it was cool and I wanted to throw some stability at my life. On a complete whim I decided to put a little more effort into some of my lyric scribbles and translated Asian Kung-Fu Generation’s single Siren (#1-2). Nothing happened. But it was fun to listen to a song I liked for a few hours and hash out grammar and vocabulary we hadn’t and would never properly cover in class, so I kept it up sporadically. By June 2009 I had become bored with livejournal and annoyed with some of its interfaces, plus I was starting to want to have a “site”. I moved to wordpress.com with a bit of a messy transfer, started a guide on mahjong and played around with a few other ideas. In August 2009 after Comiket 76, I got my translation thrown on a YouTube video for the first time (Club Ibuki in Break All), and people started visiting my site (for that song and for my mahjong page). I got a request or two during that time, but it was pretty quiet until January 2010 after Comiket 77. Aghart101 started subbing songs with my translations on YouTube and more people were finding my site through Google. Requests became more common and the site came alive. In August 2010 after Comiket 78, I doubled my production (and halved my college course-load unintentionally) and soon I had to organize the translations on my navigation page because there were just too many to sift through. I got searches for “kafka-fuura” to my site for the first time. By April 2011, several artists I had been translating from had contacted me, I saw someone I didn’t know browsing my site on campus, and I suddenly had more requests than I could handle.
Copyright Issues:
As I am destitute I understand, but it is important to contribute to the artists and original authors of these works we all love, so I encourage everyone to follow the “when possible” rule. I think Foreground Eclipse puts it well: “Damn it! / But I say fuck you to all those listening to this song / on youtube or nicovideo (Oh, that’s me) / Except for who lives overseas / and is not so able to buy Doujin CDs.”
Along the same lines, I tend to steer clear of posting anything that blatantly infringes copyright, but the law will disagree with me from time to time about what’s fair and what isn’t, so if I get any requests to take something down I will – I’d rather not have my entire site taken down over something trivial. It’s not always possible, but I try my best to credit the artists of the artwork I put up on my posts (usually with a -booru artist tag in the title or pixiv id), and I’ve yet to have a complaint over lyrics or art or anything so far.
Using my Translations:
Because I’m a bit loose on copyright myself I don’t mind if you take my song translations and put them anywhere, like on a wiki or on YouTube or NicoNico video and the like, I’d just like you to credit me “Translated by Kafka-Fuura” etc, and I’d appreciate it if you’d link back to the site. If you want to take a larger translation, like the Renko and Merry stuff, I’d prefer to be asked first.
Requests:
If you would like me to translate a song for you, just put a comment on any post (usually the most recent’s a good pick). If it’s Touhou, chances are all I need is the name of the song and the circle (I have a library of album booklets), otherwise it’s better if you have a link to kanji lyrics or scans of the album. I do “by ear” only on extremely rare occasions; if you want me to look for a transcription I can, but if I come up empty-handed, I probably won’t do it. I do most songs requested of me, but not always in the order I receive requests (especially if I’m busy), but I try to not keep anyone waiting too long. If you request often, I would appreciate it if you donated, but it’s not like I’m keeping track or anything like that…
I currently do not have a solid commissions system set up for anything, but if you want something long translated, I’m willing to negotiate: I could use the money. Longer things are more dangerous because of copyright issues, so unfortunately I can’t do something like translate the Strike Witches light novels for you, unless you happen to have the rights over its English translation of course.
[Updated 2012/01/26]
Due to the high number of requests and the fact that I can’t keep up with them I have cut my requests list down to 15 (from 40; i.e. 25 requests disappeared). I will not accept any requests past this maximum. The goal in mind is that this way I’ll actually get more requests done, hopefully there’ll be a faster turnaround and no one will have to wait 3-6 months or more.
As always (there has always been this option, though I’m not sure everyone knows), you can bypass this system by paying me to translate the song. $5/song. Not that I see this happening, but if I get a flood of pay requests I might have to raise the price – i.e. it’s not set. That may seem like a high price, but given the amount of time I spend on each song on average, and keeping in mind that PayPal gets a cut, it would end up being around 1/4 minimum wage, so – it’s not really that unfair, especially when there’s a free option! (there’s just a line).
Questions and Comments:
If you have questions about anything, feel free to ask via comment or e-mail. I tend to get really chatty if it’s about the Japanese language. Usually if there’s something strange or I feel it isn’t explained well enough in a translation alone I’ll leave a note or two, depending on the song my translation will range from literal to liberal. I had a long discourse on this once, but I forgot where I put it (probably in some random comment.)
Also, if there’s something more you want from the site, like if you want me to update some of the pages like the mahjong page or Japanese tutorial sort of pages that I’ve kind of abandoned, leave a comment here.
Yoroshiku ne. よろしくね。
Favorite Rankings:
| Touhou Characters 01-Usami Renko 02-Remilia Scarlet 03-Izayoi Sakuya 04-Alice Margatroid 05-Rumia 06-Komeiji Koishi 07-Konpaku Youmu 08-Inubashiri Momiji 09-Yakumo Chen 10-Ibuki Suika 11-Kazami Yuuka 12-Maribel Hearn 13-Tokiko 14-Sunnymilk 15-Rika 16-Mizuhashi Parsee 17-Hakurei Reimu 18-Hieda no Akyuu 19-Kochiya Sanae 20-Mima 20-Tewi 20-Yakumo Ran 20-Yakumo Yukari |
Circles 01-凋叶棕 (RD-Sounds) 01-豚乙女 01-Shibayan 04-Foreground Eclipse 05-石鹸屋 / ゼッケン屋 06-EastNewSound 06-Alstroemeria Records 08-Syrufit (+Poplica*) 08-Demetori 10-ぴずやの独房 Pizuya’s Cell 11-Halozy 12-Alice’s Emotion (+C.H.S) 13-君の美術館 14-FELT 15-りずとら Liz Triangle 15-魂音泉 TAMAONSEN 17-みょんみょん Myon Myon 18-Sound Holic (+709sec.) 18-岸田教団＆THE明星ロケッツ 20-K2 Sound 20-C-CLAYS 20-発熱巫女～ず 20-Yellow Zebra |
Vocalists (女) 01-Merami 02-ランコ 03-3L 03-深水チエ 05-陽花 06-リツカ 07-葉月ゆら 07-mican* 09-茶太 09-美歌 11-ほたる 11-片霧烈火 11-小峠舞 14-びびあん 14-綾倉盟 16-lily-an 17-舞花 18-nayuta 19-リズナ 20-ichigo 20-あさな 20-Tsubaki |
Vocalists (男) 01-いずみん 01-Cherose 03-秀三 03-ACE 05-709sec. 05-あにー 07-Romonosov 08-ytr 09-Beat Mario 10-YAMAGEN |
great concept i like it ^~^
since my Japanese isn’t too good yet and lyrics of the songs i hear are important to me finding translations is always awesome especially for touhou songs ^~^
hahahaha i loled at u byografy ( especialy the part where u are (X╹_____╹) and (・ω・´) and ヽ(╹ε╹)ノ and (・∀・) and ハッΣ(・ω・) that part is so epic xD )
u are awesome!! the only idiom i can manage to learn at fully was english (gretings from Mexico btw ;D) but its like some basics, right now i wanna learn japanese or mandarin but u managed to learn th most hardfull lengauge of all (old history say foreing people on war say that japanese was the idiom of the devil, cuz they can’t get a sngle word about what where they saying xD)
anywais.. just leabing my comment, and telling u u are doing a srly awesome job!! keep it up! :D
BTW FOREGROUND ECLIPSE SRLY OWN!! :D!!
Hello. I would like to make a huge (and a small) request. I’ve recently heard a song called 月夜に舞う想い from a new CD called Funny Party in the Fog by Yuyoyuppe. I absolutely fell in love with the song and the CD. My small request is for a translation of the song mentioned above and for romaji of that song as well (so I can sing it!!! :) ) My big request is for the entire album to be translated and romaji-ized (is that a word?) I don’t have a lyric sheet because I’ve been unable to find an English site that sells the CD. I would love to buy the CD if possible, and if you know where I can, could you please let me know? Thank you for time and consideration.
Youtube link to 月夜に舞う想い:
[link]
Merami!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*suppresses inner fan*
I definitely know where you’re coming from with “hard to find” – after searching for about a year I FINALLY got a copy of one of my favorite artist’s albums (I couldn’t even find it while searching around in Japan) – and it’s currently on its way (｀･ヮ･´)
You’re in luck – MelonBooks just got a re-stock: [link]. Here’s the “special page” with samples and with another paired album: [link]
MelonBooks like most doujin shops does not ship overseas. So you’ll need a proxy service. The one I use is GOODY-JAPAN [link], because the guy that runs it is very reliable and he doesn’t charge much commission. However, I don’t think he’s taking any more registered users because he’s getting too busy.
I haven’t used these guys before, but maybe try JapaMart? [link] I think you do a “special order” and give them the link to the product, the name and price etc. etc. But like I said I haven’t used these guys before so you should look around at different proxy/deputy services and ask questions or contact the companies, and pick which one you think is best.
As for translating the entire album, I think I’m a bit busy for that at the moment – but I’ll keep it in mind. I’d have to get the album myself, so I’ll sort of passively search around for it. I’d need to have booklet scans and preferably a digital copy of the music (because I’m not sure all of it will be on YouTube); in fact I’m having a little bit of trouble finding lyrics to just this song myself.
I’ll keep searching and keep you updated, but if I can’t find the lyrics and you end up ordering the CD (keep in mind with shipping and commission and exchange rate it’ll be expensive) – you can just scan the booklet for me and I’ll do the song immediately for ya. ^_^ (I only do songs completely by ear under extreme circumstances – but since this is Merami we’re talking about, that might make it >.>)
Update: Found the album, but no booklet :< / I'm sure it'll be available with the next large touhou booklet database release, but they're sporadic and I don't know when they're posted. :<
Anyway I’ll put it on “hold” until I can get the lyrics.
Thanks loads for this. This might sound weird, but even though this song is in a language I don’t understand, it strongly touched my heart when I heard it. Usually I don’t go to such lengths to get something translated…actually I never have before! Just to put the question out there, if I ever made something on a large scale, say a visual novel, that I think might appeal to the Japanese public at large, would you consider translating it? This is a question for the future, so no need to rush an answer here. Again, thanks for the interest, and I’ll soon be looking into how to get the CD. If it’s not horribly expensive (and by that I mean something a poor man can get :( ), I’ll get you the lyrics then.
ありがとうございます、花深風羅さん。このサイトはすごく面白いですよ。ぼくも日本語の学生ですけど二年生だけです。ぼくの日本語はふかいですね、でも花深風羅さんの英訳はあたらしいぶんぽうや単語をならうのためにすごくさんこうだと思います。
Well, I say that, and yet everything I just wrote was probably totally incomprehensible…やれやれ。
いやいや、わかるさ(・∀・)
日本語について何学年といえば七年生かな？もう卒業したのに僕はまだ学生のように勉強しているからね。日本語能力試験(JLPT)は来月だからより必死にさ。(・ω・´)
そういえばニモさんは大学生ですか？日本語の二年、特に三年まで辿り着く学生は多くないな…そんなもんだからまた日本語の学生と会うのに嬉しいわ。何かの相談あれば乗ってやるよ！
(僕の書き方は本当に勝手ですから、わかりにくければごめんなさいね) >.>
Nice to meet you!
You’re a college sophomore right? That was about the time I started all of this – right around my hikikomori semesters (I didn’t see the sun for 3 months) >:3
Feel free to bug me about anything – especially if you’ve got a Twitter.
かんじ。。。そのかんじ。。。目はこわしている。
じゃあ、良いです、べつに、れんしゅうだけですね。はい、今大学の二年生と日本語の二年生もです。
Nice to meet you as well. I don’t have a twitter myself, though I’ve been considering it. Thing is, I’d probably only use it to keep up with other people; nobody would ever actually be interested in knowing what I’m doing. I’m not a hikikomori, but in terms of what I actually do on a day-to-day basis, I might as well be.
でも、日本語のしつもんがあったら、Kafkafuuraさんにききます。
で、JLPTでがんばってね。
Hi, first of all i must thank you for whole Foreground Eclipse translations. I just can’t wait to see “I Bet You’ll Forget That Even If You Noticed That” in english. (I bet kanji isn’t out yet).
Also I would like to ask if you could translate this http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Lyrics:_stage4%E3%80%8CThe_Spirit_Draws_Spiral%E3%80%8D
「The Spirit Draws Spiral」 by Tokyo Active NEETs
This song is filled with mixture of emotions.
Somehow I could understand some sentences but some didn’t make sense (google translate sucks).
Could pro give it a try?
Little bit of a late response, but I’ve added it to the list and’ll get to it when I can ^^;
I also reply a bit late. Now i’m a bit drunk but seeing your preferences i can fully recommmend you MIS4RICORDIA album by
Arrange/Composition: ゆよゆっぺ (Yuyoyuppe)
i’m a bit drunk now but i hope this to fit your preferences ;]
Check out this album ;)
I’ll give that Misericordia a look later :3
F.ck I shouldn’t have been writing being THAT drunk ;]
Sorry about that, but i must say misericordia is a really nice album.
After reading your’s Christmass post I find a few similarieties with you (I have similar stubble;p) and quite more than with ppl i meet offline on daily basis. (If they accept me then I accept them)
Even through internet you seem like a real human ;) (some ppl feel like they were artificial)
Man, sometimes i really reget that i don’t know japanese (at least hiragana) but I lack motivation to learn. That really sucks.
Maybe next time i’ll write more but for now i’m going to sleep.
頑張る!
Can I request you do a translation of this song? Clepsydra ~Hikari to Kage no Jujika~ Ending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIXC3NwZQk0 Thats the short version, but there is a longer version..
I don’t know if theres kanji version of the lyrics, I can’t read japanese so I wouldn’t know if it was correct or not..
I think the song is called The 13th never-never land by Yura Hatsuki, though that’s just what i’ve heard it be called
Looks like the title’s 13番目の御伽の国. I’ll add it to the list :3 I like Hatsuki Yura and Alice-y things. – I probably won’t get to it for a while, but I’m usually pretty good about hunting down lyrics if they’re out there. If you happen to come across the kanji lyrics for the full version you can just email them to me or send me a link to the scans or etc :3
* MISERICORDIA
Hello~kafka-fuura
I’m from Hong Kong,and my english is not very well(I’m just a student)
In fact, recently I have used the english lyrics that is translated by you to translate to Chinese….(I know I haven’t done it very well…)
Here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Dw7QjmbFs
By the way….I am here to request(since my friend need this song with the chinese lyric..)….can you help me to translate a song to english…? I will translate it to chinese after you have finished the translation…
The song is :氷の霧 ～ reciprocatio
Which is from the Album:悠風ディフェクタス
From the Circle:セブンスヘブンMAXION
Youtube Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X82m41uHils
It will be great if you can help me to translate this song…
Thanks a lot!
(You can call me Fractal)
I’ve kind of got requests closed right now… but I like the song, and it’s not very long, and – well…
I’ll probably do it sometime within the next few days ^_^
Thanks~ <3
love everything yoou do :3 thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks so much <3
Hello
I have a new request now….
Title：純桜華 -雙雷-
Circle：Riverside
Arrange & Lyrics：Cororo
Guitar：すのうまん
Vocal：秣本瑳羅
Album：Edis révir -Riverside vocal best album & ryuno’s art works vol.1-
Original：東方緋想天
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoGqe6G95e0
It is not urgent…
Thanks a lot for your translation
It’ll probably have to wait a while – and I have requests closed technically at the moment – if you remind me again when they open up I’ll add you to the list to translate :)
Hey there :3
uhm…I love you for translating touhou arranges D8
really, x3
uhm and I wanted to ask you, if you could translate a song for meee.
The problem is you have to do it by ear.
I searched everywhere for the lyrics but I couldn’t find it yet s:
sorry.
this is the song I’m talking about:
[YT-Link]
I feel like this song, no the whole circle doesn’t get enough love so I would be very happy if you translate it for me :3
(even if you have to do it by ear, the lyrics don’t seem shard to understand if you ask me o: so please, could you do it? Q_Q)
thanks~
I have the lyrics, but right now requests are closed. But… since it’s <echo> project, and I’m really waiting for their next album (Renko+Merry) so I might be in the mood to do it soon. No promises though. If I haven’t done it by the time I reopen requests – probably in a week or more – feel free to remind me about it. :)
Ok…I am now here to remind you :P
Title：純桜華 -雙雷-
Circle：Riverside
Arrange & Lyrics：Cororo
Guitar：すのうまん
Vocal：秣本瑳羅
Album：Edis révir -Riverside vocal best album & ryuno’s art works vol.1-
Original：東方緋想天
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoGqe6G95e0
Thanks for all your lyric translation~
I’ll try to get to it soon as requests are official open again, but I can’t promise that I’ll get to it right away – I’ll try though.
- is here to remind you about my request –
[YT-Link]
hello there~
you told me that I can remind you if you’re requests are open again~
so here I am 8D
I hope I didn’t make a mistake with the date or didn’t see that you already translated the song x:
I put it on my list – I’m hoping I’ll get to those more recent requests soon. ^^;
Ah I hope it’s gonna be finished soon =)
can’t wait for the lyrics >w<
and thank you SO MUCH
I have a request. Will you translate “Crimson Sky” by Elemental Records, please?
Here is a link to the lyrics.
http://hi.baidu.com/394730122/blog/item/bfe8678863bec38fa5c2722e.html
Thanks in advance.
I have a new translation policy – (see above) – so until a slot opens, or you want to pay me instead, you’ll have to wait ^^;;;;;;
I don’t mind waiting.
So Your request list is now down to 15 songs.
But what will happen to these 25 cut out songs? Will you eventually translate them (like waiting in purgatory for salvation) or they will be forgotten forever (straight to hell)?
My request was unfortunately 17 on the list T_T hence the question.
Yeah, I’ve just been way too busy lately to handle the thought of more than 15 songs on my list T^T. When the list gets really long a lot of people start waiting indefinitely and that’s not good. When the list drops down from 15 you can hop back on. I tried to be relatively random when I was striking people from the list >.>
Hi there! I’d like to ask for a translation request for the song “I Wish” by the circle Hatsunemiko’s. I don’t mind waiting, so you can translate this whenever you can. :3
So, umm, I found the kanji for the song: http://hatsunetsumikos.net/astr/lyric_iw.html ..
Also, here’s the song on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJyrCf_651s
Thank you in advance, and I’ll be happy to follow you on Twitter for updates. o:
It’s already on my list, I’ll try to get to it sooner because there are multiple people requesting :)
Oh! Alright, thanks for letting me know! I’ll be looking forward to it. :3
i think found the kanji lyrics for the song i requested awhile ago!^^ (13番目の御伽の国)
http://silberblume.blog18.fc2.com/blog-entry-124.html
So either I fail at searching or else for some reason you have not translated this particular Foreground Eclipse song yet.. lol? Anyways, I love this song all together too much. So if needed I would pay you to translate it. Anyways, song is “Noble” 5 minutes and 27 seconds of pure win to my ears.. If only I knew what Merami was singing.. I am willing to pay for this per your new policy ^__^
Alright ^^ – I’ll try to get it done sometime tomorrow :3
another translate request…
桜∞friendship
Vocal: 実谷なな
Lyrics: 下和田ヒロキ
Arrangement: MiYAMO
Circle: こなぐすり
Album: (C80) antiphōna
Thanks~I need it to be a gift to my friend,XDD
and…Can you add romaji in it..?thanks again..
I was wondering, do you do non-touhou song requests?
That I do. :)
I wonder if i can request some lyrics here…
here is the yonji song i trying to find translation and romaji but no luck yet. it’s really short. can yo please post lyrics. when you have time.
Midorime no Jealousy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXxIQnGMHnU
here is one more yonji song from C76. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm8046302
and this one i really love.
Title: 長夜の眠り
vocal: Rumdarjun
Album: (C78) Valkyris
i found kanji lyrics.. http://vrurihimev.blog63.fc2.com/blog-entry-611.html
Also thanks for all other translations you’re doing.
hello, i came back again for a request (sorry ><)
i was wondering, when your request list has an empty spot if you could please translate this song
the kanji and romaji lyrics are here
http://lyrics.wikia.com/%E5%A6%96%E7%B2%BE%E5%B8%9D%E5%9C%8B_%28Y%C5%8Dsei_Teikoku%29:%E9%9C%8A%E5%96%B0%E3%81%84
Hello Kafla. I have a request, a vocal of monochrome-coat (vocalist : Meramipop). The name of album is Purge. Vocal of stage 4 Desire Drive.
The lyrics is on the description of video.
I found it surprising that I’ve read your translations so many times but never checked out the about page. Now I’ve done it, and thank you for the translations!
BTW, if you are searching the lyric for 扉の向こうに (from 綴 – RD-Sounds 凋叶棕), check this video on Nico.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm16610025
It is amazingly simple but funny for those who know what it means.
My friend recommanded this to me and I am really surprised to know a fan of RD-Sounds like me!
Thank you for the vivid translations and I’ve learned a lot for my languages.
Here is my translation request,
ささぐうた -ヒガン·ルトゥール·シンフォニー-
アルバム：[C80]遙
サークル：凋叶棕
原曲：東方花映塚「彼岸帰航 ～ Riverside View」
vocal:めらみぽっぷ
Lyric by RD-Sound
The first song of this album and I was immediately moved(tears) by the fantastic lyrics and merami’s euphonious voice!
Here the link of video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq-ErrKdqIo
and I have found the Japanese lyrics
[Removed to reduce length of comment]
Thank you for your hard-working:)
日本语の勉强を顽张ります
I’m going to try really hard to get around to it, because I love RD-Sounds so much >.> but I’m so behind on everyone else’s requests so we’ll just have to see <.<
Hi there kafkafuura :D
You have an amazing site!!… thanks a lot for your translations
I use your lyrics just for sing, like a karaoke… so, i’m here requesting something :p… can you translate Ancient, Witching Dream, Border of Life and Little Love Girl from Haunted Dancehall in romanji?? you already have it but not in romanji :(
Thanks and regards since Mexico City n.n
All the Romaji for Haunted Dancehall is done now! \o/
Hi there, kafkafuura.
Hope you’ve been getting better.
You’ve done the translation of その扉の向こう! I really love this song.
According to some kind of video from Nico, the english part of the lyric should be:
She’ll meet some fantastic story.
Tell me what she chooses, something holy.
I’ll knock the door for more, ever wonderer.
I’m not sure but I feel like it is correct.
Thanks a lot – I’ll make changes to the post :D
Hey, I love your music translations! Not really for the lyrics but it’s awesome to have a list of good music lined up I can go down.
However, where do you get your music from? I’m guessing you don’t buy all your albums right (I’d imagine the import cost would destroy your wallet), is there some awesome website I don’t know about? If so, please enlighten me!
You should pay attention to the lyrics too! A lot of times it makes the songs a lot better!!
I try to buy what I can that’s accessible, (especially if I’m a particular fan), but yeah when 60-80% of that cost is shipping and proxy fees it’s not something you can always do. I don’t actually have all of the songs I translate; I just listen to them on YouTube. I do get all my lyrics booklets from the “booklet” section of a gigantic torrent known as the “Touhou Lossless Music Collection” (which requires something that can handle large torrent collections past uTorrent’s limit – such as Transmission) which you can find searching on Nyaa/TokyoTosho which’ll have most everything but the most recent stuff.
There’s no specific go to site, but you can always find stuff if you look around. ^^
A lot of groups like Audio-4U and #Comiket release recent stuff.