KanjiKit: Doing Japanese in English Windows 95If you've so far answered "no" to the question, "Do I use kanji often enough to justify installing both English and Japanese versions of Windows 95?" consider the Kanji Kit alternative. If you're a bilingual user who works frequently in both Japanese and English, Windows 95 offers two choices: run your English-language applications from Japanese Windows (OK if you're comfortable with Japanese Win95 menus and help files), or install b oth the English and Japanese versions of Windows 95 and switch between them as needed. (See this month's Help Desk for an easy, and free, way to do this.--Ed.) When your Japanese ability is only basic-to-intermediate, however (like mine), yet you n eed to view Japanese Web pages or display and input selections of kanji into documents, Windows 95 offers no good solution. But Pacific Software Publishing does. PSP's Kanji Kit is a toolbar-based utility that enables me to display, input, edit, and print Japanese with my English Windows 95 applications. Installation was quick and easy, and when I launch Kanji Kit from my Win95 Startup menu, the small Katana FEP (front-end processor) toolbar that pops up lets me type in romaji, select the proper kanji, and insert as appropriate into my English document. The program functions just like a typical Japanese FEP, so if you've ever used a Japanese operating system, you already know how to use Kanji Kit. Kanji Kit comes with a Japanese Mincho TrueType font and a kanji bitmap font, and additional font packs can be added. The toolbar consists of several buttons, including a Code Page button (for selecting between S-JIS, JIS, or EUC character sets ) and Input Method button (English, Katana FEP, kana, or S-JIS code). When you select Japanese input, the Katana status bar replaces the Kanji Kit toolbar. The status bar display shows such data as sentence parsing mode, conversion mode, and input/ output modes. Kanji Kit isn't perfect -- it doesn't enable proper display of all kanji in English Windows 95 Explorer, for example, and I experienced an annoying "character overlap" display problem with one word processor. Overall, Kanji Kit is a f irst-class choice for all but heavy-duty kanji input. It enables the input and display of kanji into most English Windows applications, such as MS Word, WordPro 96, and Excel, and permits viewing of Japanese Web pages. It also works with mos t English Windows 95 Accessories, such as Notepad and Wordpad, and even allows kanji to be entered in Explorer's File Finder boxes. (The efficacy of searching for a double-byte kanji with a single-byte English application, though, is another matter.) Kanji Kit works on systems with a 386DX or higher CPU, 4MB of RAM (8MB recommended), English Windows 3.1, 3.11, or 95, and a CD-ROM drive (for installation). The 99-page manual is bilingual (36 pages in English). If you can't justify installing Japanese Windows, but need occasional Japanese capability, then Kanji Kit is an easy and practical (albeit expensive) solution.
Kanji Kit From Pacific Software Publishing ($199): phone +1-206-688-8080, fax +1-206-990-3388; http://www.pspinc.com/ Distributed in Japan by Attain Corporation (¥34,800) |