[packetpirate]

To get Japanese characters to display, you need to install support for East Asian Language Packs. To do this, go to Start > Control Panel. Find "Regional and Language Options". Open it and if you're in Windows XP, there should be a checkbox to install East Asian Language Packs. Do so. If you're on Vista, or Windows 7, go to the Keyboards and Languages tab. Click "Change Keyboards". In the new dialog box, click Add. Scroll down in the list to find "Japanese". Expand the tree and check off the checkbox for Japanese and Microsoft IME. Then just click okay and click okay to the rest of the dialog boxes to exit them. You should now be able to see Japanese characters and switch between keyboards to type in Japanese.