Japanese Text on the Internet

Reading and writing in Japanese online is certainly a lot easier than it was just a few years ago, but still sometimes there’s a small amount of setting up required if wanting to use Japanese on a western operating system.

There are three different characters within the Japanese language: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Each Japanese character requires two bytes, and a special Japanese font set needs to be installed on your PC in order to display it. You'll also need to be using a Unicode font, such as Arial Unicode MS. While most Romanised text can be translated into Japanese with just a Japanese font set, there are some elements of certain languages, for example characters with macrons, that require a Unicode font.

The easiest way to ensure you're able to understand the Japanese language on the internet is to ensure you have the latest version of both your operating system and your web browser installed. For example, with Hiragana characters, it's important to have the latest version of your internet browser as well as all of the necessary updates for plug-in translation tools, otherwise Hiragana will appear as parentheses.

To work out whether your computer is able to read the Japanese language correctly, you can visit this webpage and see if theJapanese characters are rendered correctly or not under the East Asian section.. If you notice strange symbols, such as blank boxes or question marks, then it's likely your computer does not support the display of Japanese symbols and you will need to install an appropriate plugin or change the settings on your computer. This can be done in the following ways:

How to Display The Japanese Language on Your Device?

Windows

If your computer uses a window operating system, it's fairly easy to change the settings to support the Japanese language. Simply go to your control panel, type in 'regional and language options', then tick Japanese under the language tab. This is the method for computers using Windows Vista, 7 and 8.

For computers using a slightly older operating system, you'll have to install additional language files as these do not come automatically with the operating system as they do with newer versions. To install language files, you'll need to go to 'regional and language options', then select 'additional language support' under the control tab. Japanese will be under either 'Japanese' or 'Far East languages', depending on your computer. To finish the installation you will most likely need the original Windows installation CD, and will then also need to configure your web browser accordingly.

Mac

If you have a Mac computer, it's likely you won't need to make any changes since the OS X system automatically recognises and displays Japanese correctly. With OS 9, selecting 'Customised Mac OS installation' on the installation CD then downloading the software for Japanese under language kits will install the language on your system.