Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!udel!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!sn0v+
From: sn0v+@andrew.cmu.edu (Shoichi Nakai)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Japanese
Message-ID: 
Date: 25 Jun 88 21:11:37 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon
Lines: 65


In comp.sys.mac, Fung Lee writes:

>In article <5506@pucc.Princeton.EDU> SSROY@pucc.Princeton.EDU writes:
>>Does anybody out there know of a Japanese word processor
>>for the Mac?  How much does it cost?  Thanks.
>>                         Steve Roy
>
>There is a Japanese word processor called "EGWord".  I remember seeing
>the advertisement in some back issue of MacWorld.
>In fact, there is now a Japanese Operating System for the Mac, running
>the Japanese Script Interface System, Kanji Talk.  You may contact
>APDA (Association Programmer's and Developer's Association) for an order.
>Kanji Talk lets you use any Script Manager compatible word processor.
>However, the only SM compatible word processor I know of so far is
>the simple-minded TeachText.
>
>Fung F Lee (lee@shasta.stanford.edu)

Yes, there is a Japanese word processor called "EG Word".  It first came
on the market in 1985 and was upgraded early this year when a new Japanese
operating system, Kanji Talk version 2.0, was introduced.  The early version
of EG Word ran under the ordinary English system along with its own Japanese
fonts but the latest version (3.0) runs only under Kanji Talk 2.0 since it
no longer has its own fonts.  A layout processor called "EG Book" is also
available.  EG Word and EG Book are the products of ELGOSOFT, Tokyo.  A bundle
set costs 98,000 Yen.

Kanji Talk is a Japanese language version of the Macintosh system software
and was upgraded to version 2.0 last February with a lot of new features.
These include the capability of handling more than 7,000 Kanji characters
along with the introduction of two different styles of fonts.  You may replace
the interface for converting phonetic Kana characters into Kanji characters,
which is often refered to as the front-end processor, by one of the products
provided by third-party vendors.  Unfortunately, though, Kanji Talk 2.0
requires a lot of memory and disk spaces.  Running this without a hard disk
is unpractical.  If you have only a megabyte of memory, you will not be able
to run HyperCard.  As a matter of fact, all Japanese Macitoshes are equipped
with two megabytes of RAM.  Since APDA doesn't distribute Kanji Talk 2.0 yet
according to the April issue of its newsletter, you have to look for it
elsewhere.

Kanji Talk 2.0 is based on an older system (System 4.2 and Finder 5.3).  This
means that you can't use Multifinder.  You may want to use both the latest
English system and the Japanese system according to your needs.  This is done
by using "System Switcher" made by Canon.

You may contact Japanese Language Service for ordering these products.  It is
located at
     186 Lincoln St., Boston, MA 02111
     (617) 338-2211

For your information, ELGOSOFT is located at
     3-9-1, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107, Japan
     (3) 589-4951
Canon is at
     3-11-28, Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, Japan
     (3) 455-9131
Apple Japan is at
     2-17-22, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107, Japan
     (3) 582-9181

I hope this helps.

Shoichi Nakai