Unicode Version 12.1 released in support of the Reiwa Era

日本語 (Japanese) はこちら

Version 12.1 of the Unicode Standard is now available with updated data files. This version adds a single important character, the square ligature for the name of the new Japanese era, Reiwa (令和), for a total of 137,929 characters.

This new character in Version 12.1 adds critical support for those Japanese implementations that depend on the ligature form of Japanese era names when presenting calendar information. The Unicode Consortium and its members are pleased to add support for this important new character with a timely release of Unicode Version 12.1, shortly after the selection of the name was finalized by the Japanese government. The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) and International Components for Unicode (ICU) have also been updated for the new calendar data during this time.

Critical data files have been updated for Version 12.1, including:

• Unicode Character Database—UCD data files
• Unicode Collation Algorithm—DUCET data files

The Unicode Standard is the foundation for all modern software and communications around the world, including operating systems, browsers, laptops, and smart phones—plus the Internet and Web (URLs, HTML, XML, CSS, JSON, etc.). The Unicode Standard and its associated standards and data form the foundation for CLDR and ICU releases.

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Over 136,000 characters are available for adoption, to help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages