Japanese Language Posts

I have seen other posts with this issue, but having read them all, and other troublshooting pages, I still cannot resolve the problem.

The issue is using Japanese language in the body of both posts and pages. I am using WP 2.5, set to UTF-8. It is an original installation (not an upgrade). I have tried both typing directly in the post/page window, using the language IME function in Windows XP set to Japanese, and I have tried posting Japanese langauge text first written in notebook or Word, into the window. In all cases the Japanese text shows up fine until I hit “save” and then it turns into question marks. I have also tried adding a Japanese font setting within the HTML code in the post (MS Mincho), all to no avail.

Rather than dismissive comments to the effect that WP supports all languages and that I must be doing something wrong (both of which are probably true, but simply asserting it is not helpful) I would appreciate some specific guidence on this. If I cannot resolve it I will be forced to find another platform for my blog, as I do need to use Japanese.

Thank you.