Using computer in Japan

!! Under construction !!

The computer is the main tool for engineer and it's new role as a mean of communication is also at a premium for an expat. This page will be about :

How are Japanese characters displayed
WWW browsers and e-mail
How do I get a Japanese word processor for my PC

How are Japanese characters displayed

!! Under construction !!

WWW browsers and e-mail

Availability

A few years ago, it was not easy for a foreigner to deal with Japanese computer technology : special standardswere used in order to support Japanese writings. Furthermore, computers were surprisingly not so common in high-tech Japan. But this has changed greatly whena special DOS version followed by a Windows product were capable of displaying kanas and kanjis. Also, the penetration ofinternet and World Wide Web both in homes and in enterprises has been very quick. Now the Japanese presence on the webis bigger than Germany's and only second to the U.S.A. This doesn't mean that the particuliar laboratory or enterpriseyou will work for is able to offer you unlimited access to browsers and e-mail (there are always exceptions...) but ingeneral, there should be no problems.

How to display Japanese web pages

The Shodouka system allows non-Japanese-capable browsers to display Web pages containing Japanese characters.

How do I get a Japanese word processor for my PC

A cheap but still efficient way of having a word processor on a non-Japanese PC is to get JWP.JWP stands for Japanese Word Processor and is a freeware program written by Stephen Chung running under Windows. It has not only the capability to print Japanese characters, but also contains an English/Japanese dictionary. This dictionary has been developped by Pr. Jim Breen and is referred as the EDICT dictionary.

To download JWP 1.3 you need to obtain the following files (mirror site in UK) :

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