A fundamental question in translation is that of editorial latitude. Is it acceptable, in the interests of improved comprehensibility and clarity, for the translator to deliberately alter the style or substance of the source language text? If is is, what is the legitimate extent of such alterations? In this article some opening and concluding paragraphs in Japanese-English translation are used to demonstrate that such changes are often justified and that failure to make these alterations can lead to a misrepresentation of the original message.