I learned my lesson and realized I had to roll my own so I am now using fever and it works just fine. I also realized it was rather foolish to trust google for any services they provide and have begun the tedious process of divesting / replacing [ google voice was the among the first to go ].

Web design that gets filtered through large / medium corporate entities that are largely by and for the Japanese market are usually pretty bad. On the other hand individuals and a few small design shops can do really excellent work - astonishlingy good actually.