Japanese Characters
To use this site, you will need a browser that can display Japanese characters. But for some of you, Japanese fonts may not appear as they should. In somecases they appear as square boxes, or question marks. To check if youcan read Japanese fonts, check if the following two boxes containsimilar characters.
| 日本語 | 
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If they appear somewhat similar, everything is peachy, and you can goon using this site. Otherwise you will have to install Japanesefonts on your computer. Depending on what system you have, read one of the following sections.
Windows | |
| Newer windows versions all have Japanese character support included. You just have to enable it. So if you cannot read Japanese characters, chances are you do not have East-Asian character support enabled. To do this in Windows XP, open the Control Panel, select Date, Time, Language and Regional Options. Select Language and Regional options. In the Languages tab, check the option for Install files for East Asian languages. Click on the Apply button. Then press the Details. Press the Add button and add Japanese (IME) input method. This should be it. For detailed instructions, see the following site explaining how to add chinese character support, just choose Japanese instead. To enable Japanese in Vista, open the Control Panel, and under Clock, Language and Region, click on Change keyboards. Click on Add to add a new input language. Select Japanese and Japanese IME. Press OK to exit the windows. Then you should be good to go. For detailed instructions see the following site. You may also read more about Japanese character input at Microsoft's homepage, Microsoft: What's an IME. For Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft provides a free program called IME. This program enables you to write Japanese characters on a non-japanese windows. Read more at Microsoft's site using the link above. |
| Internet Explorer When the above settings are done, you should be able to read (or at least see) Japanese text. In some cases If you are using Internet Explorer it should be enough to to go a Japanese site like the Yomiuri newspaper (follow this link), and it will automatically recognize missing fonts, asking you to install the required fonts. |
 | Firefox For some people it seems to work immediately reading Japanese characters with Firefox. But it seems that in many cases you will have to install Japanese fonts. These are easiest installed on your computer by surfing with Internet Explorer into a page like Yomiuri newspaper (follow this link). |
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Linux | |
 | I do not know much about Japanese character support in Linux or other Unix-type systems. But the following links should probably get you started. |
Apple/Mac | |
 | Christopher Bolton has put together an illustrative and thorough explaination about how to use Japanese characters on an Apple computer. http://redcocoon.org/cab/mysoft.html
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i tried to follow your instructions on how to install Japanese characters in my PC but i wasn't able to. The system is saying i need to get a SERVICE PACK 2 CD to further proceed. However, i don't have it since I don't really maintain the PC myself...would there be other ways i could install the characters in my PC? or is there a site where in i could download that?
I would very much appreciate your help on this!