The Cunning Coder Blog

Ichitaro doesn’t like running on English Windows. I’m sure this is the same for virtually every other non-Japanese language setting but I finally had enough. I wanted to be finally be able to use MY computer to open the Ichitaro files I sometimes received from teachers and I was determined to get it to work.

I found that if I switched the non-Unicode language setting in Windows to Japanese it would work. Yay! BUT… This is a system wide change. No any non-Unicode program I have things it should be Japanese and that also messes with the display of certain things like the command prompt (which will use a Yen sign instead of a \). I could change it back when I was done, but each time you alter this system setting it requires a reboot. There must be a better way, I thought.

It turns out there IS a better way, but it’s still not perfect. There’s a program called Microsoft AppLocale (http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/apploc.mspx). This application will let you point it to an EXE and pick the language it should run it. It even will let you make a shortcut to always run the application through AppLocale. No reboots, not side effects. The only annoyance is that it doesn’t install properly under Windows 7 (You need to tell it to use backwards compatibility) and it will prompt you even when using a shortcut to remind you that AppLocale is just a “temporary solution”. Hopefully it’s right, and Microsoft will release a more robust system level update that will allow it to handle such situations on its own, or software manufacturers will start releasing software in Unicode.

Today was one of those days that I’m really happy I’m an English teacher.  My students weren’t shy to the point of not communicating, they tried really hard, and they made did everything in class happily with absolutely no fuss.  These are the moments that make me feel incredible being a teacher.  Though this isn’t the career I’d like to stay with, it’s times like these that I will always remember fondly.

Surprisingly, time also flies when you’re freezing to death.  Outside it’s been blizzarding hard all day, as it has been for most of the winter.  The other night, when I was out with some coworkers they one of them asked how long I’d been in Japan.  I counted down the days and was truly shocked when I thought about how I had arrived on August 3rd, and it was now February 13th.  I’m in my 7th month already.

The way the time has been flying by has also been made evidence by my schools reminding me that the lessons I’m giving now are the last ones to my third year students (The Japanese school year starts in April, so they take entrance exams in March).  It’s kind of sad for me, and I really didn’t expect to form the kind of bond I did with them.  I only visit most of my classes once a month or so, the idea of forming a close relationship with them seemed completely outlandish.  Despite the lack of frequency, I do still find myself sad when I say my final good bye to my students.

Given the weather, I absolutely can’t wait until summer.  In my gallery you can see some of the pictures from the area during the winter.  It’s definitely a farcry from Oregon.  I may complain about how much I hate snow and this type climate, but deep down I’m glad I signed on for a second year.  I feel that now I’m just getting a feel for what the country has to offer, and it’d be a shame to run away from that due to the cold.