Recognizers supporting multiple languages and writing systems are becoming increasingly important due to the international success of pen-based systems. The main intention of this paper is to improve our understanding of the differences and similarities between Japanese and western handwriting recognition. Knowing the common techniques is important for developing compact and powerful multi-language recognizers with integrated modules for both writing systems. In particular, the simultaneous recognition of western and Japanese handwriting in multi-language documents requires methods suitable for both writing systems. Though the Japanese and western writing systems are completely different, we present many similar recognition techniques facilitating an integration of processing steps.