Data:   Japanese Fonts Environment


Phototypesetting systems and font makers.
        Syaken   
        Morisawa 
        Ryobi    

Font makers. 
        Dai Nippon Screen
        Font Works
        Ricoh    ---> TrueType fonts (MS-mincho, MS-gothic; used in
                      Japanese MS-Windows)
        (some further companies also make Japanese PS fonts, e.g. URW from
        Germany)

Printing companies.
        Dai Nippon Printing (DNP)
        Tokyo Syoseki Printing
        Toppan Printing
        (these are only the biggest companies; many further printing 
        companies are active in Japan)

(Ref: `Dai' means `Big'. `Nippon' means `Japan'. `Syoseki' means `books'.
       Ricoh is not only a font maker.)


          1. Syaken Co is the most famous and biggest company dealing with
             phototypesetting systems and fonts in Japan.

          2. Syaken does not make PostScript Fonts. Their fonts are used
             only on Syaken's special phototypesetting machines which many
             printing companies use. 

          3. Morisawa made Postscript Fonts in cooperation with Adobe Inc.
             It is famous that their fonts have strong software copy 
             protection.

          4. There are inexpensive PS fonts called `HEISEI Mincho' and
             `HEISEI Gothic' made by the Nippon standard association (I
             don't know the exact English name of this association). These
             fonts are not so beautiful as Morisawa's PS fonts but cheaper.

          5. In former times pure PostScript printers only had Morisawa's PS
             fonts as builtin fonts. Now there are also pure PS printers
             that use builtin Heisei fonts.

          6. The dvi2ps program outputs Morisawa's font metrics.


This document contains no information about the relation about ASCII Nihongo
TeX and Syaken's phototypesetting machines.

Version 1.0B4 (1996/02/09)          written by tanaka3@ifos.se.fujitsu.co.jp