mac virgin in Japan seeks help

[lupinthe3rd]

I'm looking to make the switch and by myself a mac. But there are a few things I need to clear up before i take the plunge.

If I buy a japanese mac with OS X is it true that I can switch the OS from Japanese to English? And is that a 100% change? All the menus etc etc will be in English?

Also, I need to have mac office, although mainly only for word. A type a lot of stuff up at work on a Japanese PC running XP then edit it at home. Would this file be compatable with a mac?

Talking of mac office, is that multilingual as well, or is just the OS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The sooner I get these issues cleared up the sooner I can hopefully make the switch

 

[irmongoose]

Yep, all the menus and everything will change to English. The log-in screen though, will stay Japanese, but there is an easy fix. Just download TinkerTool from Versiontracker.com and that should allow you to change the log-in screen language.

The files will be compatible, and you can exchange them back and forth. Office itself is not multilingual, but the English version can read and write Japanese perfectly so there is no problem there.



irmongoose

 

[alset]

Re: mac virgin in Japan seeks help

Originally posted by lupinthe3rd
I'm looking to make the switch and by myself a mac. But there are a few things I need to clear up before i take the plunge.

If I buy a japanese mac with OS X is it true that I can switch the OS from Japanese to English? And is that a 100% change? All the menus etc etc will be in English?

Also, I need to have mac office, although mainly only for word. A type a lot of stuff up at work on a Japanese PC running XP then edit it at home. Would this file be compatable with a mac?

Talking of mac office, is that multilingual as well, or is just the OS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The sooner I get these issues cleared up the sooner I can hopefully make the switch

Yes and Yes on the first two. I don't know about the third.

Happy switching!

Dan

 

[lupinthe3rd]

thanks!

know anywhere in tokyo that sells english office by any chance?

 

[iAlan]

English Software in Japan

I often have trouble getting English software here too. T-Zone used to be a good sourse, but I think all the branches have closed down. Softmap in Yurakucho often has English software. I am sure they can order it in for you if it is not available - not sure on the price. You could always contact Microsoft directly, but don't know how helpful they will be -they are not even helpful to their Windoze users! - so might be a long shot.

I just hope when the Apple Store opens in Ginza it will stock English software.

Sorry can't help any more on this...

 

[Doraemon]

What about going to Akihabara?

There are quite a lot of Softmap stores and I'm sure you'll be able to get an English copy of Office somewhere there.

 

[plasticparadox]

Japanese Office .X is not multilingual. Japanese only, even when you switch the OS interface to English.

 

[irmongoose]

Originally posted by plasticparadox
Japanese Office .X is not multilingual. Japanese only, even when you switch the OS interface to English.

Yes, but the English Office can read and write Japanese perfectly, as I have mentioned above.

You can try going to Sofmap in Akihabara, although I doubt they will have it. Your best chance is to order it from Amazon.com or something.



irmongoose