I changed the settings on both the client and the server to look like below

[NT]
locale = enu, us_english, iso_1
locale = fra, french, iso_1
locale = deu, german, iso_1
locale = rus, russian, cp1251
locale = hun, us_english, cp1250
locale = ell, us_english, cp1253
locale = heb, us_english, cp1255
locale = ara, us_english, cp1256
locale = trk, us_english, cp1254
locale = esp, spanish, iso_1
locale = jpn, japanese, sjis
locale = japanese, japanese, sjis
locale = chs, chinese, eucgb
locale = cht, tchinese, big5
; locale = kor, korean, eucksc
locale = us_english.utf8, us_english, utf8
locale = default, us_english, utf8
.................

so the last line I take is the relevant one

locale = default, us_english, utf8

This did not succeed in my seeing japanese characters.

I wonder if I set it to be

locale = default, japanese, sjis
or
locale = default, us_english, sjis

I'll give them a try and tell you how I get on...

Can you show me your settings?

Thanks

Marc