# Testing Japanese

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [November 10, 2000, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654 "2000-11-10T15:59:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jamoross](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jamoross/32/3241_2.png) [@Jamoross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamoross)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654/1 "2000-11-10T15:59:20Z")

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I’d like to know if this message board can handle  
double-byte characters as are used in asian languages.  
The most expedient way to find out is to try…

“ú–{Œê

‚±‚É‚¿‚í

‚d‚Ž‚‡‚Œ‚‰‚“‚ˆB

Test complete.

- jam

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**Author:** ![Jamoross](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jamoross/32/3241_2.png) [@Jamoross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamoross)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654/2 "2000-11-10T16:05:47Z")

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Test successful!

If you can’t read the stuff on your system, the lines  
say “nihongo” (Japanese) in kanji; “konichiwa” (hello)  
in hiragana; and “English” in romanji.

- jam

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654/3 "2000-11-10T16:23:34Z")

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[singing]_Testing Japanese/I think I’m testing Japanese/I really think so…_[/singing] 🙂

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**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654/4 "2000-11-10T22:25:35Z")

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In order to see it, I have to set the encoding to “Japanese (shift-JIS)”. That’s for MS IE 5.0. Also, you need to have installed the correct foreign language packages, which I have. Don’t ask why, it’s not like I can read anything, but I do like seeing things appear correct.

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**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654/5 "2000-11-14T08:54:14Z")

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Where might a young doper acquire the proper plug-ins to display Japanese characters (I’m running Netscape, btw)?

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**Author:** ![Jamoross](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jamoross/32/3241_2.png) [@Jamoross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamoross)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testing-japanese/40654/6 "2000-11-14T09:14:21Z")

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Hey **Lux** ,

Sorry, I lost track of Netscape Navigator back at version 4.  
At that point you needed the Japanese version running on a  
Japanese operating system (or a Mac with the Japanese  
Language Kit) to do any double-byte stuff. Messy.

If you are also running Windows, I’d have to recommend a  
move to Internet Explorer 5.5 for its (finally!) decent  
support of asian languages. If you are allergic to IE  
–as I once was-- then I’m afraid I can’t help you much.

Also, all my Unix/Lynx/Linux experience is strictly with  
English-only systems. There is a thriving(?) Linux  
community here in Tokyo, but I not part of it.

Gambatte!

- jam