In order to send and read email in Japanese on Athena you'll need to use the mule text editor as the user-interface to the mail handling system. (None of the other regular Athena mail-related programs can handle both the display and entry of Japanese. Mule, however, being an extension of the emacs text editor, lets you do almost anything inside it, including reading mail, NetNews, etc.)
You should read the document Basic Japanese Wordprocessing on Athena for an introduction to mule. Unless you are already an experienced emacs and mule user, you should follow that link now, as there are a number of important concepts you must learn before trying to use the email reading portion of the software.
You should also be somewhat familiar with general email-handling on Athena. Please review the document Electronic Mail on Athena (AC-31) to make sure you're up to speed on email concepts.
First, start up a mule window, if you don't already have one running:
add babel mule &
for a normal-sized window, or, for a large, 24-point font,
bigmule &
Then invoke the mail-handling mode:
m-x mh-rmail
(That's the meta key plus the x key, followed by the text mh-rmail, and then finally hit the return key.)
This will put you in a window inside of mule which will contain the ``scan'' listing of the email in your inbox folder. If someone has sent you new mail recently and you haven't incorporated it yet, mule will incorporate it for you, and then list it. Otherwise it will say ``No new mail'' and the window will be blank.
To see the entire contents of your inbox folder, type M-r (that's ``meta'' plus ``r'', for ``rescan'') and it will list everything, not just the newest messages.
Note that any email you've received that has Japanese in it will probably be completely unreadable in the scan listing. Don't worry, mule will do the right thing when you read the text of the message.
To see a mail message (whether in English or in Japanese) just move the cursor so that it is next to the message you want to read (the usual emacs/mule movement keys work, here) and then press the "." (period) key. The window will divide into two parts, with the inbox scan window at the top, and the contents of the message at the bottom. If the mail message is longer than a screenful, press ``Space'' to scroll forward, ``Delete'' to scroll back. From here, to read the next message, press ``n'', to read the previous message, press ``p''.
Note that the cursor stays in the top, or scan, window!
Note also that the mail-handling mode in mule is quite different from the usual text entry modes. Most commands, here, are not prefixed by the special ``control'' and ``meta'' keys. It can be a bit confusing at first, so be careful!
The first thing you'll need to know before sending someone some email in Japanese is what software your intended recipient will be reading it with at the other end -- different packages require different formats. To send to another Athena user who'll be reading it with mule, you can just use the default internal format, and you won't have to take any special steps. To send outside of Athena, you should check with your correspondent, first, and then set the file-coding-system as appropriate, as described in Basic Japanese Wordprocessing on Athena.
To send a message, make sure that your cursor is in the scan window at the top of the mule window, and type ``m''. You'll be prompted for the address of the person to whom you'll be sending it, for anyone you'd like to send a ``cc'' (carbon copy) of the message, and for the subject of the message. Just type the address(es) and subject text and hit ``Return'' after each line. (The ``CC'' field is optional -- if you don't want to send anyone else a copy, hit ``Return.'')
The window will then split in two, with the scan listing at the top, and your empty draft at the bottom. The cursor should now be in the lower, draft window -- if not, just click the mouse button there. To type in Japanese, invoke the Japanese entry mode, skk:
m-x skk-mode
and enter your text.
When you're done and ready to send, you send the message off with c-c c-c. (That's control-c, and then control-c again.)
This works much the same as composing a new message, except to start things, move the cursor in the scan window over the message you'd like to reply to, and hit the ``a'' key. When prompted ``Reply to:'' hit the ``Return'' key. You'll get a blank draft window which works as described above.
To delete a message, move the cursor over it in the scan window, and press the ``d'' key. To make the deletion(s) final, press ``e'' (for execute) and the message will be purged.
To exit from mule, type
c-x c-c.
For more information about reading mail inside emacs/mule, see the document Using the Emacs-based MH Mail Handler (Mh-e).