On 5/6/02 11:53 AM, "Yukihiro Matsumoto" <matz / ruby-lang.org> wrote:

> Historical reason.  SJIS is designed to avoid the region taken by
> katakana characters.  We used to have 8bit less expressive character
> set (ASCII + katakana characters).
> 
> For more information, check out "CJKV programming" (the balloon fish
> book from O'Reilly).

Thanks Matz! It makes sense, now!
-- 
Many individuals have, like uncut diamonds, shining qualities beneath a
rough exterior. - Juvenal, poet (c. 60-140)