Issue with database characterset

Question

Hi All,
Database Version:11gR2
Developer complained that they are trying to insert Japanese characters and they are able to insert but while displaying its not actually dispalying Japanese characters. So i checked the database characterset.
SELECT * FROM nls_database_parameters WHERE parameter = 'NLS_CHARACTERSET';
PARAMETER VALUE
NLS_CHARACTERSET WE8ISO8859P15For 'Japanese' i know that the characterset required is AL32UTF8. The above one supports French i believe.
So here are my questions.
1. Is there anyway i can insert and view Japanese characters properly in the above characterset database?
2. Is there anyway i can change the characterset of the database(i believe we cannot, but just confirming it)
3. If i create AL32UTF8 and import the database from above characterset, will that work?
Thanks,
Arun

Answer 1

Arun wrote:
1. Is there anyway i can insert and view Japanese characters properly in the above characterset database?Not in CHAR, VARCHAR2 or CLOB data types. This should be possible with NCHAR, NVARCHAR2 or NCLOB data types that are using the national character set.
2. Is there anyway i can change the characterset of the database(i believe we cannot, but just confirming it)Yes but this may require a lot of work.
see approaches in http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e10729/ch11charsetmig.htm#CEGDHJFF.
3. If i create AL32UTF8 and import the database from above characterset, will that work? Yes: should be easy with Data Pump.
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Thanks,
Arun