KanjiTalk

KanjiTalk (漢字Talk or 漢字トルク) is a localized version of classic Mac OS, developed by Apple Computer for the Japanese market. Since version 2.0, it used an input method later named Kotoeri to support Japanese characters in Macintosh computers that were sold in Japan.

KanjiTalk 1
KanjiTalk 1.0 was the first version of the Japanese system, debuting for the Macintosh Plus in May 1986. Based on the English version of System 3.0, it was developed by Apple’s new Pacific division, led by Dave Kleinberg with Mark Davis and Ken Krugler as the software architects. An update, KanjiTalk 1.1, was released in 1987. The Japanese version of the Macintosh Plus had KanjiTalk fonts included in its ROMs, reducing the amount of RAM required for operation.

KanjiTalk 2
KanjiTalk 2.0 was the second major version of the Mac system software in Japanese, developed for Apple Computer by TransPac Software, which had been founded by Ken Krugler. Debuting in February 1988, it was closely based on System 4.1 of the English system. The Japanese input method was called TurboJIP, a predecessor to Kotoeri. TransPac also organized training seminars for software dealers of KanjiTalk.

KanjiTalk 6
KanjiTalk 6.0, though the third major release, was unified with the version numbering of the English version of System 6. First released in 1989, updates to KanjiTalk 6.0 continued generally in sync through version 6.0.7 in 1990, which required installation from 10 floppy disks, including 4 containing Japanese fonts and 2 containing HyperCard 2.0 with stacks. KanjiTalk 6.0.7.1 was specially developed and released in on October 21, 1991 to support the first PowerBooks in Japan.

KanjiTalk 6.0.7 also introduced an easter egg in which the welcome screen would present a New Year's greeting in Japanese between January 1 to 3 of each year. This feature was continued through version 7.5.2.

KanjiTalk 7
KanjiTalk 7.1, a localized version of System 7.1, was the first release based on System 7. However, it had a longer development cycle than expected and was released in October 1992 with the first WorldScript extensions. TurboJIP became Kotoeri, the default input method adopted by KanjiTalk 7.1 and later.

KanjiTalk 7.5 was released in January 1995, followed by updates nearly in sync with the release of System 7.5, 7.5.1 in May 1995, 7.5.2 in July 1995 (only for the first PCI Power Macintoshes), and 7.5.3 in May 1996. An update to KanjiTalk 7.5.5, based on Mac OS 7.5.5, was announced on November 14, 1996 and released in February 1997. Support for displaying Japanese and Kanji characters added about 1 MB to system memory requirements, 1.5 MB if Japanese text input was needed. KanjiTalk support in a modified version of Mac OS 7.5.2 was used in many Pippin games released in Japan.

After KanjiTalk 7.5
The Japanese Mac OS continued after KanjiTalk 7.5, but there was no KanjiTalk 7.6 in name. A Japanese Language Kit (JLK) was made available for half the price of KanjiTalk, it could update an English (or other language) system to support WorldScript and Japanese input without changing the menus and dialog boxes of the Finder. WorldScript and worldwide language kits became a standard part of Mac OS 8.5, which was released in 1998.

Japanese support in Mac OS X
WorldScript was superseded by Unicode support, which is integrated into all versions of Mac OS X. Only the Kotoeri input method remained in name, until the release of OS X 10.10 Yosemite. A major bug in the transition was supposedly fixed in version 10.10.2.

Articles

 * 漢字 Talk (KanjiTalk), the Japanese version of Mac OS (French) at Le Journal du Lapin (2018-05-29)