# Reading Japanese websites.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-japanese-websites/156524 "2003-02-21T12:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![reoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@reoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reoch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-japanese-websites/156524/1 "2003-02-21T12:03:10Z")
Just a quick question…I want to be able to read all those Japanese sites (because I can!) but everytime I click on a japanese site, all I see is jibberish…is there a program I can download that could change that? Or maybe I have to mess with the properties of the comp. or something. Really confused here! Thanks for your help! Reoch:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-japanese-websites/156524/2 "2003-02-21T12:22:59Z")
What OS and browser are you using? Without knowing that, it’s hard to help. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-japanese-websites/156524/3 "2003-02-21T15:25:35Z")
When all else fails, try [http://www.shodouka.com](http://www.shodouka.com). It’s free and was what I used before I got my current computer (which shows Japanese sites in Japanese). From shodouka’s site: > [@](#): > > This service lets you view pages containing Japanese characters (in the JIS, EUC, or Shift-JIS encodings) without requiring Japanese language support in your browser or operating system. If you can read Japanese but don’t want to buy software to see Japanese websites, this service is for you. All the Japanese characters are turned into images that can be viewed in any graphical browser. ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-japanese-websites/156524/4 "2003-02-21T15:42:51Z")
Get out your Microsoft installation disk, go to your control panel on your puter and then chooose Add/Remove programs. From there you should be able to install additional language support. Or you could just go to [www.windowsupdate.com](http://www.windowsupdate.com) and find it there also. . … … Look for the Japanese language support and install that, it will allow your browser to see and display the Japanese characters correctly. There is a seperate program that will allow you to type in Japanese characters, but I have no link to that available right now. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-japanese-websites/156524/5 "2003-02-21T15:46:05Z")
use excite’s web translation page - OK it is in japanese but you can figure it out at [http://www.excite.co.jp/world/url/](http://www.excite.co.jp/world/url/) type in URL in box, check second circle not first under box, press button next to box translate its own page first to make things clearer Also later versions of explorer will automatically ask you if you want a download in order to display japanese characters properly ---
**Author:** ![reoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@reoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reoch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reading-japanese-websites/156524/6 "2003-02-21T20:01:00Z")
Ah crap…forgot to mention my OS. I have a windows 98 and I’m using IE to surf the net. Thanks for helping me out!!! I’ll look into those sites you gave me as soon as I get home! Thanks! Reoch