title: Japanese text in Java .properties file
body: <p>I am trying to read Japanese string values from a .properties file with the code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Properties properties = new Properties();
  InputStream in = MyClass.class.getResourceAsStream(fileName);
  properties.load(in);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The problem is apparently with the above code not recognizing the encoding of the file. It reads only the English portions and replaces the Japanese characters with question marks. Incidentally, this is not a problem with <em>displaying</em> Japanese text in Swing or <em>reading/writing</em> a UTF-8 encoded .properties file in an editor. Both things work.</p>
  
  <p>Is the <code>Properties</code> class encoding-unaware? Is there an encoding-aware alternative that does not violate the security manager settings normally found in applets?</p>