diff -urN xc.orig/lib/Xft/xftfreetype.c xc/lib/Xft/xftfreetype.c
--- xc.orig/lib/Xft/xftfreetype.c	2004-03-11 18:07:26.000000000 -0500
+++ xc/lib/Xft/xftfreetype.c	2004-03-13 22:45:40.000000000 -0500
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@
     double	    dsize;
     double	    aspect;
     FcMatrix	    *font_matrix;
-    FcBool	    hinting, vertical_layout, autohint, global_advance;
+    FcBool	    hinting, vertical_layout, autohint, global_advance, prefer_bitmaps;
 #ifdef FC_HINT_STYLE
     int             hint_style;
 #endif
@@ -496,15 +496,30 @@
     else
 	fi->render = FcFalse;
     
+    switch (FcPatternGetBool (pattern, "rh_prefer_bitmaps", 0, &prefer_bitmaps)) {
+    case FcResultNoMatch:
+      prefer_bitmaps = True;
+      break;
+    case FcResultMatch:
+      break;
+    default:
+      goto bail1;
+    }
+
     /*
      * Compute glyph load flags
      */
     fi->load_flags = FT_LOAD_DEFAULT;
-
-    /* disable bitmaps when anti-aliasing or transforming glyphs */
-    if (fi->antialias || fi->transform)
-	fi->load_flags |= FT_LOAD_NO_BITMAP;
     
+    /* disable bitmaps when anti-aliasing or transforming glyphs */
+    /* Generally, we want to prefer bitmaps when we have them,
+     * even when antialiasing, because they make Han characters
+     * more legible. But for Japanese, we want to make the
+     * opposite choice, so it's controlled through fonts.conf.
+     */
+    if ((fi->antialias && !prefer_bitmaps) || fi->transform)
+      fi->load_flags |= FT_LOAD_NO_BITMAP;
+
     /* disable hinting if requested */
     switch (FcPatternGetBool (pattern, FC_HINTING, 0, &hinting)) {
     case FcResultNoMatch: