Microsoft KB Archive/168672

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

E-mail Messages in Japanese Are Unreadable
Last reviewed: October 7, 1997

Article ID: Q168672

The information in this article applies to:


 * The Microsoft Network version 1.2, 1.3, 2.0, 2.5

SYMPTOMS
E-mail messages in Japanese may be unreadable.

CAUSE
This behavior occurs because the messages are incorrectly encoded by the local mail server or by the mail client. Most Japanese characters use 8-bit data. Therefore, even text messages have to be encoded through the Internet. The code should be Shift-Jis in order to view a Japanese message with Windows 95; however, messages could be incorrectly encoded into EUC or JIS (ISO-2022-JP).

RESOLUTION
If the mail message uses a lot of "Hankaku Katakana" characters, it is probably encoded in EUC. If the message uses a lot of "$" characters, it is probably encoded in Jis. In these cases, messages can be retrieved correctly in Japanese (Shift-Jis) by using an encoding tool such as PageBrowser.

MORE INFORMATION
The third-party product discussed in this article is manufactured by a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.