Does the BeOS support Unicode, or otherwise support double byte languages, such as Japanese or Chinese?

The BeOS utilizes the Unicode UTF-8 format (the format used by Java) within all text objects and within the font system. This allows you to view documents, including web pages, encoded in many foreign languages, including Japanese. You can read some of the details in a recent Be Newsletter article, Unicode UTF-8:

http://www.be.com/aboutbe/benewsletter/Issue75.html#Insight2

We still have work to do to support Japanese and other multibyte languages, such as adding input methods, but this is a critical first step. Look for more details on this issue in the future.