Introduction

One of the most important developments in the history of Japan's writing system has been the invention of charactercapable word processing technology which has enabled characters to be handled electronically, thereby solving what had seemed an intractable problem for machine production of documents. The nature of the Japanese script, in particular the use of a large set of kanji (Chinese characters), for a long time worked against office automation, to the extent that Japan did not experience a successful typewriter era as did the west. With the unveiling of the first word processor in 1978 came a sense of liberation from the constraints imposed by the writing system in company offices and, a few years later, in homes and universities as well. So great was the change that one commentator hailed this technology as worthy of an Order of Cultural Merit.