Windows 7: Japanese fonts not displaying in programs

Here's the problem I'm having:

Even though the Meiryo & Meiryo UI (Japanese) fonts are enabled, they still shows up as little squares in word documents(notepad, etc.) and in song titles(iTunes, Winamp, etc.). However, I can view and type Japanese just fine in web browsers(Chrome, IE, etc.)



Here's the weird part, when I open up the fonts window and click "hide" for both Meiryo and Meiryo UI and then click "show" to enable them, once I restart the computer, I can type and view Japanese just fine...for that session. Once I restart the computer again, the problem returns(they're still enabled), and I have to repeat the process.

Thanks in advance :D

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64

Please see this post and try if it works for you.

Chinese characters display as squares in text editors

Solution: Create a new user account in your computer, login to the new account and try ...

Please post back if this has solved your problem.

The problem is resolved, unfortunately I cannot say for sure if creating the second account fixed it.

Here's what happened:

After creating this thread, I disabled/re-enabled the fonts, as well as re-check marking the "Hide fonts based on language settings" under Font settings < Fonts (I unchecked this yesterday as one of my attempts to fix this issue), then I restarted the computer and it worked(as it should). The problem came back once I restarted, so I dismissed that setting, but didn't think to re-enable it.

Then I read your post, created a second account, and checked to see if the font worked in the new account AND my current account. It did, but then I remembered I used my disable/enable temp fix, so I restarted the computer and checked both accounts, it still worked. Then I shut down the computer for one minute and checked again, still worked. Then I deleted the new account and restarted the computer, and it still worked.

So either it was disabling "Hide fonts based on language settings", restarting, re-enabling it, and restarting again that fixed it, or creating the second account fixed it. I'm really stumped, I have no idea why creating a second account would fix it, and I can only guess that disabling/enabling the "Hide fonts based on..." box reset something. Either way, my problem was fixed somewhere in the process.

Sorry for making this complicated, I just don't want to say, "Yes, that fixed my problem!" when other variables were at play.

Thanks for you help

I'll post back if I run into a problem again. For all I know, and for whatever reason, maybe it's only working temporarily

No problem! All that matters is your problem is solved by whatever the method. Good Luck! ...

Strangely enough, the problem seems to have solved itself for me when I uninstalled the Japanese language pack. Only thing is it now disappeared from the optional updates as well. Any ideas on bringing it back...?