Japanese Windows software mostly don't run, or does it badly, with Wine on Linux. Unfortunately. I've been a full-time Linux user since 1992 and this frustrates me. Some of the software won't even pass the install stage. I'm forced to run this on wife's Windows 10 PC, which has its own set of nightmarish problems. Japanese software houses develop for one target: Windows. As a rule. They don't really know about anything else, except for the occasional support of Mac from some of them.
I've not really had a problem with Japanese software, but I mostly stick to old games and the like. You do need to make sure you install cjk fonts, and if your system locale isn't Japanese you need to make sure jp locale is enabled then set it before running with `LANG="ja_JP.UTF8"` (or possibly LC_ALL if that fails) but other than that I've not had any major problems.
I've used all the Japanese language and font settings (including your suggestions), and I have fonts installed, and for what barely runs this gets the fonts mostly working. It makes no difference for what doesn't even install. One example is 3D My Home Designer PRO (version 8 which is not the latest, but one I have a license for. From Megasoft, Japan). It's exclusively for Windows.
Another example (which is not licensed, and easier to test for) is Jw_cad https://www.jwcad.net/download.htm which actually installs and runs, it's just that it doesn't run well. Some stuff works, but it's not enough to make it usable.
I've run Japanese windows software under Wine, and with no configuration it was a sea of crashy mojibake. With the right locale configured, it worked fine.
Have you tried Bottles? I helped a friend a few weeks ago getting his game library to work after he migrated to Bazzite and there are a few games from Japanese studios / indie devs. It was mostly setting the locale for a separate bottle configuration and from there they installed and worked.
Installing a Windows VM is not really an option for me for various reasons, but in any case that's just.. running Windows. I don't have a Windows license either so I expect I wouldn't be able to anyway.
Yes, because as you said these applications only run on Windows. How else would you get around it, if not by running some form of Windows? At least this way, the core system (and 90% of general purpose applications) could remain on Linux.
> I don't have a Windows license either so I expect I wouldn't be able to anyway.
You can just use the install unlicensed, or, if your computer came with a Windows license (as most do), you can extract it from the motherboard and use it to activate the VM. Not sure if that's allowed in Microsoft's ToS though.
What's discussed in this subthread is running Windows applications under Wine. When it's running under Windows there's no discussion to begin with.
In any case, I'm not going to try to set up a Windows VM on my Linux computer, I don't have the room or if I had it would be better used for other things. And I just abhor using Windows, whenever I have to use the wife's PC it's hell. For her, too.. she can't find anything after she's saved something, for example. And I don't have a Windows license, never had, my computers are all bare when new. In any case, it defies the whole purpose of not having to run Windows. Now, with Windows 11, it seems to be even worse. And I have zero idea on how to install Windows from scratch anyway - in my case I would probably even have to install a Japanese version, as is installed on my wife's PC. Well, not going to happen.
Okay, suit yourself, I don't exactly care. Most of the thread was about running Windows applications on Linux, wine is just one means to an end in that regard. I merely suggested another that may work for your specific use case, while still allowing you to retain Linux on root, as I do on my system.
Also, unless you're talking about desktop motherboards that you bought directly from the manufacturer, any laptops you have almost certainly have an embedded OEM Windows license key burned into them from the factory (and that's obviously without getting into any massgrave chicanery).
I suppose the difference in our views is pragmatic versus philosophical. I don't care whether something is running through a translation layer on Linux or technically "on Windows" in a stripped-down VM with telemetry removed, so long as my core system remains Linux and I can minimize my exposure to Windows without any application support hurdles.
Sorry, but could you list any program I'm never thought about japanese software and since I'm interested on japanese culture, I'd would like to know which kind of programs they are
