diff --git a/core/log.py b/core/log.py
index ac9f7f3c..1f78b7e5 100644
--- a/core/log.py
+++ b/core/log.py
@@ -120,6 +120,19 @@ def _paint(level: str, text: str) -> str:
     return f"{code}{text}\x1b[0m" if code and _colour_wanted() else text
 
 
+def _say(text: str) -> None:
+    """Print to the console, never raising. A console that is not UTF-8 (a rental's ASCII locale, a redirected pipe)
+    cannot print a Japanese file name; that must cost the characters, not the generation that was only mentioning it."""
+    try:
+        print(text, file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
+    except UnicodeEncodeError:
+        enc = getattr(sys.stderr, "encoding", None) or "ascii"
+        try:
+            print(text.encode(enc, errors="replace").decode(enc, errors="replace"), file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
+        except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001 -- the Log window still has the record
+            pass
+
+
 def record(level: str, source: str, message: str) -> dict:
     # Imported here rather than at module level: `run` starts a run by clearing
     # what this module holds, so a top-level import would be circular.
@@ -128,7 +141,7 @@ def record(level: str, source: str, message: str) -> dict:
              "message": message, "run": run_mod.current()}
     _records.append(entry)
     _keep(entry)
-    print(_paint(level, line(level, source, message)), file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
+    _say(_paint(level, line(level, source, message)))
     return entry
 
 
diff --git a/core/tests/test_log.py b/core/tests/test_log.py
index 08c1ae31..1affa1c7 100644
--- a/core/tests/test_log.py
+++ b/core/tests/test_log.py
@@ -227,3 +227,12 @@ def test_colour_codes_never_reach_the_panel(monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setattr(backend_log, "_memory", lambda: deque([{"m": painted + "\n"}]))
     answer = backend_log.recent()
     assert answer["lines"] == ["[Log] Warning: x | y"] and answer["tones"] == ["warn"]
+
+
+def test_a_console_that_cannot_encode_a_name_does_not_raise(monkeypatch):
+    import io
+    import sys
+    from core import log
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stderr", io.TextIOWrapper(io.BytesIO(), encoding="ascii"))
+    entry = log.info("FunUI Load Media", "loaded 日本語.mp4")
+    assert "日本語" in entry["message"]            # the Log window keeps the real characters
diff --git a/modules/media/load/tests/test_load_media.py b/modules/media/load/tests/test_load_media.py
index 1efb64b2..e362d949 100644
--- a/modules/media/load/tests/test_load_media.py
+++ b/modules/media/load/tests/test_load_media.py
@@ -164,3 +164,16 @@ def test_a_cut_that_leaves_nothing_is_explained_and_a_picture_input_reads_one_fr
         FunUILoadMedia.execute(mid, full=True, prepare=json.dumps({"skip_first": 100})).result
     image, _, _ = FunUILoadMedia.execute(mid).result
     assert image.shape == (1, 48, 64, 3)
+
+
+def test_a_japanese_file_name_loads_even_when_the_console_cannot_print_it(store, monkeypatch):
+    """A rental whose console is ASCII must not fail a generation because a clip is called 日本語.mp4."""
+    import io
+    import sys
+    from modules.media.load.nodes import FunUILoadMedia
+    mid = _long_clip(store)
+    media.rename(mid, "日本語の動画 ｶﾀｶﾅ.mp4")
+    console = io.TextIOWrapper(io.BytesIO(), encoding="ascii")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stderr", console)
+    image, frames, _ = FunUILoadMedia.execute(mid, full=True, prepare='{"frame_cap": 3}').result
+    assert frames.shape[0] == 3 and image.shape[0] == 1