[Lunaryn]

I can't comment too much on JP FFXI per se, but I will outline basically what I did to get my setup working. I think all of the necessary info is posted somewhere on the Windower site; most of it in the IME plugin guide, some of it in a forum thread about JP POL registry settings.

Prior to installation I had Japanese language and Input support installed in Windows (I visit Japanese websites often enough for this to be a normal activity for me when setting up a Windows install).

I installed the JP version of POL as made available by SE: http://dl.square-enix.co.jp/pol/setup.exe
Notably, I did not install to the default directory, but to C:\Program Files\PlayOnlineJP.

I performed additional changes to the language configuration as stipulated by the IME plugin guide (and modified slightly as I'm on Windows 2000), notably making Japanese the default language for non-Unicode programs. I assigned keyboard shortcuts to switch to the available languages (Ctrl-Shift-0 and Ctrl-Shift-1).

I launched JP POL and allowed it to update itself to the latest version (long process).

I edited the registry, copying the keys indicating the location of the installed FFXI from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PlayOnlineUS to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PlayOnline

I launched JP POL again and attempted to play FFXI. This produces an error, POL-1168. This is normal immediately after doing this or immediately after an update.. I clicked リトライ. POL proceeded to do a full file check on FFXI, after which it decided it was up to date and launched FFXI.

The first time there were significant graphical glitches, but these were resolved after copying all of the settings from PlayOnlineUS\SquareEnix\FinalFantasyXI to PlayOnline\SQUARE\FinalFantasyXI in the registry.

Since then, I've only needed to allow another error/retry/file check in JP POL after each FFXI update. When updating from JP POL, oddly enough, you still get the POL-1168 error, retry, full file check, then it downloads the updated files. After this, you can go in from NA POL and it recognizes that FFXI is up to date immediately. Makes me rather curious as to what is at the root of the POL-1168 errors in JP POL.
______________________________

I read how ppl have installed FFXI both US and JP version but having trouble in the middle. so far I have US fully installed but I got only the JP PoL version only working. I got both US and JP FFXI CD's so its being done normally but when I try to run setup.exe for FFXI during the start of the installing (0%) when it's about to start it gives me some error message with a bunch of questionmarks (?) and then another message saying MSDN in between a bunch of questionmarks. I have no idea what's wrong with this, can anyone help me out?

If you're getting error messages consisting mostly of question marks, you probably don't have Japanese support installed. You can find this in the Control Panel under Regional Options, but I'd suggest you head to the Windower website and look at the IME Plugin guide, as it explains in detail exactly what you need to do to get Japanese support going in Windows XP. If you are one of the rare Windows 2000 users and need help with the differences PM me, as I'm familiar with setting this up in 2000. Can't help with Vista, though.