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Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!bierstadt!hpoppe
From: hpoppe@bierstadt.ucar.edu (Herb Poppe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Kanji on the Mac
Message-ID: <1376@ncar.ucar.edu>
Date: 7 Feb 89 22:48:23 GMT
References: <12124@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Sender: news@ncar.ucar.edu
Reply-To: hpoppe@bierstadt.UCAR.EDU (Herb Poppe)
Distribution: na
Organization: Scientific Computing Division/NCAR, Boulder CO
Lines: 65

We are hosting a vistor from Japan who would like to write documents
in Kanji to be printed on a laser printer and sent back to Japan.

I have been asked to investigate using a Mac for this purpose; I'm
very familiar with the Mac but haven't paid any attention to
the international uses of the Mac. I don't speak Japanese nor
can I read Kanji.

Is it necessary to have the Japanese version of the Mac?
Are they even available for sale in this country?

If one can use a US Mac, what is required in the way of system level
software?
What is KanjiTalk and what does it accomplish?
(For example, does is give me a Japanese version of the Finder with
menu items in Japanese; does it let me name files using Kanji?)
What is the relationship, if any, between the Script Manager
and KanjiTalk?

I'm assuming that a word processor will fulfill his needs.
Is there a Kanji word processor on the US market?
If there is such a beast, is it standalone, or does it require KanjiTalk?
Or does KanjiTalk let me use Microsoft Word (or what US word
processors are compatible with KanjiTalk if MS Word is not)?
I assume that the text in menus, dialog boxes, etc. is still in
English; are there internationalized versions (Japanese) of US
developed software, available in the US, that would present the entire
Mac interface in Kanji?

Its my vague understanding that KanjiTalk is a special distribution
of System Tools and that it lags (far?) behind the current US
distribution (6.0.3). If that is the case, what version of the System
does KanjiTalk support and especially, how does that limit
the Macs (Plus, SE, SE/030, Mac II, Mac IIx) that I can run it on?

Is it true that all Macs have the Kanji screen font in ROM or is that
only true of the Japanese Macs?
I assume that such a screen font would be very large and if it
is RAM resident on US Macs that it might make a MacPlus look like a
128K Mac. What is the recommended amount of RAM needed to support
Kanji on a US Mac?

Is there an Adobe Postscript Kanji font that can be downloaded to
an Apple LaserWriter II NTX?
Is it available in the US?
What about non-Adobe Postscript Kanji fonts?

Is there a Kanji knowledgible Apple (or other) dealer (or consultant)
in the US (possible California?) that would be a source for Japanese
Macs, KanjiTalk, Kanji word processors, internationalized (Japanese)
versions of MS Word, MacWrite, etc., Adobe Kanji fonts, etc.?

In short, what is the best way of making this visitor feel at home,
without flying over to an Apple dealer in Japan and picking up
a system?

Thanks for your help. I have travelled to many places in this world
and have often been astonished by strangers bending over backwards
to help me out. I'd like to return the favor now to someone who
will find themselves in the predicament I once was, and show them
that we are not all "Ugly Americans".

Herb Poppe      NCAR                         INTERNET: hpoppe@scdpyr.UCAR.EDU
(303) 497-1296  P.O. Box 3000                   CSNET: hpoppe@ncar.CSNET
		Boulder, CO  80307               UUCP: hpoppe@scdpyr.UUCP