diff -uNr fluxbox-0.9.7-orig/src/FbTk/StringUtil.cc fluxbox-0.9.7/src/FbTk/StringUtil.cc
--- fluxbox-0.9.7-orig/src/FbTk/StringUtil.cc	2003-12-17 02:06:52.000000000 +0900
+++ fluxbox-0.9.7/src/FbTk/StringUtil.cc	2004-01-04 17:29:04.000000000 +0900
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@
 #include <memory>
 #include <algorithm>
 
+#include <langinfo.h>  
+#include <iconv.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+
 using namespace std;
 
 namespace FbTk {
@@ -199,6 +204,31 @@
     return first_pos;
 }
 
+char *locale_to_utf8(const char *text)
+{      
+    static iconv_t conv = (iconv_t)-1;
+    char *utf_str, *from, *to;
+    size_t from_len, to_len;
+    size_t r;
+    if (conv == (iconv_t)-1) {
+        char *loc = strdup(nl_langinfo(CODESET));
+        conv = iconv_open("UTF-8", loc);
+        delete [] loc;
+    }
+    from = (char *)text;
+    from_len = strlen(text);
+    to_len = from_len * 6 + 1;
+    utf_str = to = new char[to_len];
+    r = iconv (conv, &from, &from_len, &to, &to_len);
+    // success or incomplete sequence
+    if (r != (size_t)-1 || errno == EINVAL) {
+        *to = '\0';
+        return utf_str;
+    }
+    delete [] utf_str;
+    return strdup(text);
+}
+
 }; // end namespace StringUtil
 
 }; // end namespace FbTk
diff -uNr fluxbox-0.9.7-orig/src/FbTk/StringUtil.hh fluxbox-0.9.7/src/FbTk/StringUtil.hh
--- fluxbox-0.9.7-orig/src/FbTk/StringUtil.hh	2003-12-17 02:06:52.000000000 +0900
+++ fluxbox-0.9.7/src/FbTk/StringUtil.hh	2004-01-04 17:29:46.000000000 +0900
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@
     }
 }
 
+char *locale_to_utf8(const char *text);
+
 } // end namespace StringUtil
 
 } // end namespace FbTk
diff -uNr fluxbox-0.9.7-orig/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc fluxbox-0.9.7/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc
--- fluxbox-0.9.7-orig/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc	2002-12-01 22:42:15.000000000 +0900
+++ fluxbox-0.9.7/src/FbTk/XftFontImp.cc	2004-01-04 17:29:04.000000000 +0900
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 //$Id: XftFontImp.cc,v 1.2 2002/12/01 13:42:15 rathnor Exp $
 
 #include "XftFontImp.hh"
+#include "StringUtil.hh"
 #include "App.hh"
 
 #ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
@@ -98,15 +99,23 @@
                           m_xftfont,
                           x, y,
                           (XftChar8 *)(text), len);
-    } else 
+    } else {
+    	char *utf8_text = StringUtil::locale_to_utf8(text);
+    	int utf8_len = strlen(utf8_text);
+        XftDrawStringUtf8(draw,
+                          &xftcolor,
+                          m_xftfont,
+                          x, y,
+                          (XftChar8 *)(utf8_text), utf8_len);
+	delete [] utf8_text;
+    }
+#else
+    XftDrawString8(draw,
+                   &xftcolor,
+                   m_xftfont,
+                   x, y,
+                   (XftChar8 *)(text), len);
 #endif // HAVE_XFT_UTF8_STRING
-	{
-            XftDrawString8(draw,
-                           &xftcolor,
-                           m_xftfont,
-                           x, y,
-                           (XftChar8 *)(text), len);
-	}
 
     XftColorFree(disp, DefaultVisual(disp, screen), 
                  DefaultColormap(disp, screen), &xftcolor);
@@ -123,14 +132,21 @@
                            m_xftfont,
                            (XftChar8 *)text, len,
                            &ginfo);
-    } else 
+    } else {
+	char *utf8_text = StringUtil::locale_to_utf8(text);
+	len = strlen(utf8_text);
+        XftTextExtentsUtf8(App::instance()->display(),
+                           m_xftfont,
+                           (XftChar8 *)utf8_text, len,
+                           &ginfo);
+	delete [] utf8_text;
+    }
+#else
+    XftTextExtents8(App::instance()->display(),
+                    m_xftfont,
+                    (XftChar8 *)text, len,
+                    &ginfo);
 #endif  //HAVE_XFT_UTF8_STRING
-	{
-            XftTextExtents8(App::instance()->display(),
-                            m_xftfont,
-                            (XftChar8 *)text, len,
-                            &ginfo);
-	}
     return ginfo.xOff;
 }