The primary reason many consider the Shinkaiyaku 2017 superior is its commitment to Formal Equivalence (often called "literal translation").
The 2017 revision is "better" than its predecessors (the 1970/2003 versions) because it incorporates nearly five decades of archaeological discoveries and textual criticism. shinkaiyaku 2017 pdf better
If you own the physical Shinkaiyaku 2017 (published by the Japan Bible Society, ISBN: 978-4802082291), you can take it to a print shop (e.g., Kinko’s in Japan) to have the spine cut off and the pages scanned at 600dpi with OCR. This is expensive (¥5,000+) but produces a permanent, personal digital archive. The primary reason many consider the Shinkaiyaku 2017
Japanese has complex levels of respect. In 1987, Jesus was often addressed with moderate respect (-reru/-rareru). By 2017, linguistic sensibilities had changed. Excessive honorifics for Jesus sounded distantly polite, not intimate. The 2017 edition dials back archaic super-polite forms, making Jesus sound more approachable without being disrespectful. This is expensive (¥5,000+) but produces a permanent,