Japanese typography in Framer

A line breaks in the middle of a word

Japanese has no spaces between words, so a browser breaks a line wherever it happens to run out of room: mid-name, mid-number, mid-place. A native reader will not name the reason. They will only feel that the page was not finished.

Applied once to the whole site, including body copy and CMS text. Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Thai.

There is nowhere to type a reading

Browsers have rendered ruby text for years. What is missing is the field to type it into. A name, a place, a title, a term — you only want to put the reading above it, and there is no place to put it.

The reading is decided by whoever wrote the line. Nothing is guessed from a dictionary, so a name is never read wrong. No outside requests, and 4.6 KB added to the site.

Japanese and Latin letters run into each other

In typesetting, a quarter of an em of air sits between Japanese and Latin characters. Metal type always did this. Browsers do not. So one line — the one carrying a word in Latin letters, or a number — sits very slightly tighter than the lines around it.

What is inserted is width, not a character. Copy the text and the string comes back exactly as it was typed. 1.3 KB added to the site.

A portfolio built on all three

The three above will repair a site that already exists. But a page laid out from the start in the expectation that it will be read in Japanese is a different page from a repaired one. SUMI is a portfolio template built on that assumption.

Eight static pages and two CMS layouts. One type scale, one motion curve, one accent colour. Nothing decorative, nothing that moves without a reason. In English the template is unchanged — the plugins simply do nothing.

SUMI is no longer sold as a template. It stands here as evidence instead — a complete Framer build, drawn end to end, so you can see what we do before you ask us to do it for you.

Every decision inside it — the page list, the type scale, the two CMS layouts — is laid out on the Behance case page.

Do I have to write code?

No. Each one opens as a Framer plugin, and you press apply once. It works on the published site; the canvas looks exactly as it did.

Will it remove custom code I already have?

No. All three write only inside their own markers, and remove only that range when switched off. Anything else sharing the same slot is left alone.

Will my site get heavier?

Kumihan adds 14 KB, Rubi 4.6 KB, Waei 1.3 KB, all after compression. None of them make outside requests, and none of them collect anything about your visitors.

How does the licence key arrive?

To the email address you paid with, within 24 hours. One-time purchase, no limit on the number of sites. The key is stored only in your own browser and is never written into shared project data.

How is the template delivered?

The link appears on the screen as soon as payment goes through. Sign in to Framer and it opens as a new project on your account. If you close that screen, write to us from the address you paid with and we will send it the same day.

Do I need all three?

Line breaking alone changes how the page reads. Start with Kumihan for free, add Rubi if there are words that want a reading, and Waei if your copy carries a lot of Latin letters or numbers.

Is this a translation plugin?

No, and it is not a replacement for one. A translation plugin turns your English into Japanese. These three deal with what happens to the page afterwards — where the lines break, how a reading is placed, and the space between the two scripts. Use whichever translation tool you already use, then apply these on top.

Does it work on a multilingual site?

Yes. All three act only on Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Thai text. On an English or European locale they find nothing to do and add nothing to the page, so you can leave them switched on across every language.

What is free and what does it cost?

Waei is free. Kumihan and Rubi are free to install and free to use on a page at a time; Pro removes the limit and is a one-time payment — Kumihan $25, Rubi $19. No subscription, no per-site licence, no renewal. If you only need the Japanese localization to stop looking broken, the free tier is often enough.

Can you do the Japanese side of the site for us?

Yes. We build and migrate Framer sites that are read in Japanese, from $3,000. The three plugins are the part we were able to give away.

We design and build the Framer site itself

The three plugins repair a page. If what you actually need is the page — a launch, a studio front, a full site your team can edit afterwards — that is the work we do, and the Japanese above is simply part of it rather than an extra line on the invoice. One page from $900, a full site from $3,000, handed over on your own Framer account.

Moving a site to Framer

The three above repair a Framer site. If yours is still on WordPress or Webflow, the Japanese problem is only the third of three — the addresses and the content model come first, and they are where a migration is usually lost. What moves, what does not, how long it takes and what it costs, written out.