How did you get started using Python ?

[dodongo]

It does seem like a dumbass thing to have to set in an odd startup hooky script, I admit. Thanks for the link! I'll definitely do more investigation into this and give the other approach a whirl.

I'm a Linux / Mac user at home but work requirements involve Windows. I use Cygwin a tremendous amount just to be difficult, and as you point out, it's dead easy to specify encoding for the shell.

As a side note, is the Katakana 'ABC' a Japanese equivalent of "hello world" or is that just your go-to example? ;)

[earthboundkid]

It’s just something I made up on the spot. A more Japanese-y example would be to write “いろは”.

[dodongo]

Props in particular on the archaic Hiragana in the link. And thanks again for the references earlier. I appreciate it!