Finally figured it out...

I've had this little problem with combining Japanese + Java. The jist is that I've never been able to get Java to handle Japanese characters, no matter how I set things in Eclipse or setup Java, I've never been able to get it working.

...turns out I just needed to skip step 1 and go straight to step 2. Apparently, the console in Eclipse can't handle the characters, but everything else can.

So, for the past ~1 year, I've been unable to work with Kanji in Java simply because I haven't tested it outside of one specific area.

Technical shorthand to this: "System.out.print("新しい")" displays "???", and "JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"新しい")" shows the kanji correctly.

Random Update

I have a brace on my right knee from a dislocated patella last Tuesday, my mouth is almost back to normal from getting my top wisdom teeth out last Friday, and I had a persistent kink in my back Monday and Tuesday this week. So, I'm just ready for the next day to begin 2 days before it comes...

Japan's getting almost there; 2 small things left on the things-to-do list, then it's just clothes shopping.

Reformatted my laptop to set it up for Japan. Those that know my computer know I don't normally run any antivirus or spyblock software, as they just slow down the computer beyond any desire I have to use them. I tried putting Symantec Endpoint on, and it pretty much began a cascade of problems, including disabling automatic updates and preventing me from installing some of my more ... grey ... applications. So, I had to start from scratch again and I'm just leaving the antivirus off for now, at least until I get _everything_ on it. I know I'll lose some of my crackers, (Symantec doesn't like AnyDVD, ophcrack, and netpass, if you know what those are) but I'll live.

Biggest complaint of this reformatting: towards the end of last semester, I started looking around for "stock images" for image work later, as I was getting tired of searching google images every time I wanted something. I eventually became a regular surfer of 4chan, because despite any criticism I've heard of it, it's one hell of a topical image repository. Many of my current wallpapers came from there, as well as now-about 60% of the total library of images I use. I was changing desktop themes and moved to a great artwork wallpaper I found over there, and just thought to myself that I wish we had faster internet at home, just so I could surf 4chan like I could at school.