The Pitfalls of Japanese Localisation

Localised games for the Japanese market often have issues that disappoint players. Even AAA games can face these problems, as the Japanese language has features that differ from other languages. I want to share these issues with you on this page.

1 - Chinese characters are mixed

For some reason, some systems and fonts recognise certain Chinese kanji as Japanese ones like this:

Japanese players can understand these characters since they look almost the same, but they might feel that the localisation lacked effort and investment.

If this issue occurs in your game, you can visit this site where a VR developer explains the cause of the issue and how to fix it:

Your code displays Japanese wrong | Your Code Displays Japanese Wrong

2 - Incorrect line breaks

Have you ever seen a second line start with a question mark like this in games?

You would answer, "Never". This is because a computer automatically breaks lines before a word reaches the end of the line.

Unfortunately, however, this system doesn't work for Japanese, as the language has no spaces between words. How can a computer know where to separate words without spaces?

Therefore, you need to implement the Japanese line-breaking rules in your game.

The characters that should never begin a new line:

)]｝〕〉》」』】〙〗〟’”｠»ヽヾーァィゥェォッャュョヮヵヶぁぃぅぇぉっゃゅょゎゕゖㇰㇱㇲㇳㇴㇵㇶㇷㇸㇹㇺㇻㇼㇽㇾㇿ々〻‐゠–〜?!‼⁇⁈⁉・、%,.:;。！？］）：；＝}¢°"†‡℃〆％，．

The characters that should never appear at the end of a line:

([｛〔〈《「『【〘〖〝‘“｟«$—…‥〳〴〵\［（{£¥"々〇〉》」＄｠￥￦ #

3 - Text size is too small for Japanese people

This problem might be the most stressful for Japanese players. You should know that the appropriate text size differs from language to language.

Each Japanese character, especially Kanji, has a more complex design and contains more information than its English counterpart. 

So, if your game displays the Japanese translation in a small text size, it becomes illegible and looks like it has too much empty space.

Reference: https://youtu.be/W1ubngQNJpw?feature=shared