USING WINDOWS 2000 TO RUN JAPANESE WINDOWS PROGRAMS

Rob Britt's UW Page

JPN Win2K
(Page last updated June 29, 2004 )

USING WINDOWS 2000 TO RUN JAPANESE WINDOWS PROGRAMS

You need to go into Japanese mode if you want to run programs and/or run CD ROMs designed for Japanese Windows that are not Unicode-enabled. Once you are in Japanese mode, you will be able to read the installation dialog boxes, and also any Japanese-language menus in these programs. Also, if you use MS Outlook, any Japanese text in the subject line or in the "to" box will display correctly.

Another important change is that in Japanese mode, file and directory names can be in Japanese script (Kanji and kana). Also, in Windows Explorer (file manager) or in dialog boxes where you are changing files or folders on your system, the backslash used in filenames appears as a Japanese "Yen" symbol (as it does on regular Japanese Windows systems).

In my opinion, Windows 2000 and XP have been a great leap forward for multi-script computing. Microsoft's website has more information about all this. For example, see:

Overview
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/int_pr_custom_workspace_regionalsettings.asp

To display non-Unicode programs in their native language
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/int_pr_select_language_version.asp

To change the language used for menus and dialog boxes
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/int_pr_mui.asp

Here's how to go into Japanese mode:

	Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Regional Options
	On the General tab in Regional Options, look at the box near the bottom labeled "Language Settings for the System"
	Scroll down this box, and notice that (probably) "Western Europe and the United States" is grayed out and checked.
	Scroll back up to the entry for "Japanese"
	Click on it.
	Make sure that the checkbox next to Japanese is checked
	Then, click the button below and to the left labeled "set default"
	From the drop-down list, select "Japanese", and click "OK"
	The system will respond by checking to see if you have installed the appropriate files
	If not, it will ask you to insert the installation disk
	If the files are installed already, it will say so, and ask if you want to install them again. In this case, click "no"
	You may need the help of your systems person here. In some cases Windows may not let you install the necessary files if you are not an "administrator"
	In any case, you will need to restart once the files are installed
	After that, your Japanese Windows programs should work properly.
	Note that in most cases, you can just leave the system set in Japanese mode (I do). If for some reason you need to be in another language mode (Western Europe or Chinese, for example), you need to repeat the above process, and select whatever the desired language is, and restart the system)
	The only problem I've noticed in Japanese mode is related to OCLC CJK software, which is a little "buggy." It works well enough, though. Unfortunately, in Chinese mode OCLC CJK does not work (Some users have this problem, so they have to stay in Western Europe mode all the time unless they specifically want to run Chinese programs. Fortunately, we don't have that problem with Japanese.)