As was reported before, Japanese support in MDR has been incorporated in recent versions, and with the release of the new 2.0.1 beta1 version it's been improved.

Among other improvements, this versions brings the user a new pop-up menu for switching character sets on the fly. The Japanese translation was done by Koki and Jun Suzki, and there was the help of several beta testers, just to name a few of many: Shinta, Koichi Kimura and Matatsugu Karino.

You have seen several news pieces about the Japanese BeOS community, and if all goes well, i.e. the coming together of the western and eastern groups, you'll be reading a lot more about it. BeOS needs everyone.