[Enhancement]: Support for Japanese language ebooks #1448

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opened 2026-02-20 10:10:08 -05:00 by deekerman · 2 comments

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 10:10:08 -05:00

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Originally created by @salixh5 on GitHub (Oct 9, 2023).

Describe the feature/enhancement

This might be similar to #1274 but I do not read manga books (and I'm not aware of there being audiobook versions of cartoons). However I do read regular books like novels. In Japanese books, the writing is most of the time (and pretty much always for novels) from top to bottom, and then from right to left. There are also ruby characters in almost every book.

Right now, reading a standard EPUB does not seem to fully work. I'm testing in Firefox, and while generally the first pages are displayed and ruby are visible at the correct places, you have to click on the arrow at the right side to go to the next page. Also, after the first few pages, it's not possible to continue reading. There seems to be some bigger underlying issue that I don't know how to pin-point.

I have a small test file that includes a full public domain book: https://transfer.acted.org/download/6de168674ec247b8/#EfO6En3UYw8SOM3bS6lWzw This link expires in 14 days. I can always re-upload it if needed, just ping me. There are also many other public domain files of Japanese books that can be found online. If there is any way I could help further, I would be happy to do.

Originally created by @salixh5 on GitHub (Oct 9, 2023). ### Describe the feature/enhancement This might be similar to #1274 but I do not read manga books (and I'm not aware of there being audiobook versions of cartoons). However I do read regular books like novels. In Japanese books, the writing is most of the time (and pretty much always for novels) [from top to bottom, and then from right to left](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_and_vertical_writing_in_East_Asian_scripts). There are also [ruby characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_character) in almost every book. Right now, reading a standard EPUB does not seem to fully work. I'm testing in Firefox, and while generally the first pages are displayed and ruby are visible at the correct places, you have to click on the arrow at the right side to go to the next page. Also, after the first few pages, it's not possible to continue reading. There seems to be some bigger underlying issue that I don't know how to pin-point. I have a small test file that includes a full public domain book: https://transfer.acted.org/download/6de168674ec247b8/#EfO6En3UYw8SOM3bS6lWzw This link expires in 14 days. I can always re-upload it if needed, just ping me. There are also many other public domain files of Japanese books that can be found online. If there is any way I could help further, I would be happy to do.

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2026-02-20 10:10:08 -05:00

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 10:10:09 -05:00

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@random-human-being commented on GitHub (Jun 14, 2024):

I can confirm a similar issue on v2.10.1 (Docker). All ebooks with Japanese text are not rendered properly.

The exact same, improper rendering happens when using Calibre-Web (see the issue I opened here https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web/issues/2786), so I assume the fault lies in whaterver library both projects are using.

@random-human-being commented on GitHub (Jun 14, 2024): I can confirm a similar issue on v2.10.1 (Docker). All ebooks with Japanese text are not rendered properly. The exact same, improper rendering happens when using Calibre-Web (see the issue I opened here https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web/issues/2786), so I assume the fault lies in whaterver library both projects are using.

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 10:10:09 -05:00

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@salixh5 commented on GitHub (Jun 14, 2024):

These seem to work with my books:

Not always perfect but better than in ABS.

@salixh5 commented on GitHub (Jun 14, 2024): These seem to work with my books: * https://github.com/satorumurmur/bibi (demo https://epubreader.net/ ) * https://github.com/johnfactotum/foliate-js (demo https://johnfactotum.github.io/foliate-js/reader.html ) Not always perfect but better than in ABS.