Text Messaging in Japanese (or other language with non-Roman script)

Question

Is it possible to send/receive text messages written in non-Roman characters with Verizon? 
More specifically, I'm using a Droid 2 with Verizon, and I'm trying to text a friend in Japanese.  She has an iPhone (AT&T), and is physically in the U.S. (so I'm not asking about international text messaging).  I've already installed apps on my Droid (e.g. OpenWNN, or Simeji) to input Japanese, which work fine in and of themselves, and the Droid of course displays Japanese text or other languages just fine on the Browser or in E-mails.
However, I'm having lots of trouble with Text Messaging.  When I send a message containing Japanese text (typed in perfectly fine with OpenWNN or whatever), she either never gets the message, or the text comes out unreadable (as ???????).  Messages with a mix of Roman and non-Roman characters typically show the Roman characters ok, but the non-Roman ones (i.e. Japanese) are garbled.  If she sends me a message containing any non-Roman characters, I generally don't get the message at all (i.e. not even garbled-- just no message at all).   This deficiency seems to be specific to Text Messaging, as far as I can tell.  I can send and receive e-mails containing Japanese just fine, read foreign language web pages, and type in Japanese into search boxes on those web pages and so on with the Droid.  However, sending an e-mail message to (myphone#)@vtext.com, predictably, results in any Japanese text being garbled, though Roman characters come through just fine.
Is this perhaps something specific to Verizon's network?  Or is text messaging in non-Roman scripts just inherently impossible?  My friend says she knows others who can successfully text in non-Roman scripts (e.g. Korean Hangul, Japanese Kana or Kanji), and claims some of these folks are Verizon customers too.  A search on droidforums.com yielded someone who supposedly could text in Korean within Verizon.  So, I'm hoping this is possible, and I'm just missing something. However, this is perhaps all secondhand information and rumor.
(Incidentally, I know for certain that messaging with non-Roman scripts is possible in general.  During my last vacation in Japan, I rented a phone there, and could send messages in English or Japanese scripts.  However, I believe the phones there actually have their own e-mail addresses, and so the service there is more like regular e-mail-- my understanding is that text messaging as we know it in the U.S. is a distinct technology, though I could well be wrong.)
So, to restate my question: is it possible to text message with non-Roman scripts with Verizon?  Has anyone out there done this successfully-- if so what did you do, or what app did you use?  Or is it in fact impossible? (e.g. Maybe text messaging here only uses 7 or 8 bits, instead of 14 or 16 needed to encode all the various Asian, European, and other scripts?)
Thanks for any help available.

Answer 1

I'm trying to figure this out as well, but my understanding on the matter is that Verizon's CDMA network uses unicode which will display, roman characters, loa, thai, and serveral other languages, but not hirigana, kanji, katakana, or simplified or traditional chinese.  The Romaji should work however.  It would be nice to hear some input from a Verizon rep on the subject, because like you my info is all second hand.
If my understanding is correct, the simple answer is no, it's not possible.