diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 4190ffa5..015d489c 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+Upcoming (TBD)
+==============
+
+Bug Fixes
+--------
+* Read and write the default `myclirc` as UTF-8, fixing a startup crash on non-UTF-8 locales such as Japanese Windows.
+
+
 v2.30.1 (2026/10/24)
 ==============
 
diff --git a/mycli/AUTHORS.txt b/mycli/AUTHORS.txt
index 61f20170..36d5ddd5 100644
--- a/mycli/AUTHORS.txt
+++ b/mycli/AUTHORS.txt
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ Contributors:
   * Puneet Dixit
   * Liu Zhenlong
   * Chris Burr
+  * Wei-Lun Li
 
 
 Created by:
diff --git a/mycli/config.py b/mycli/config.py
index a41c6d5c..e3abfd9d 100644
--- a/mycli/config.py
+++ b/mycli/config.py
@@ -197,20 +197,20 @@ def read_config_files(
 def create_default_config(list_values: bool = True) -> ConfigObj:
     import mycli
 
-    default_config_file = resources.files(mycli).joinpath("myclirc").open('r')
+    default_config_file = resources.files(mycli).joinpath("myclirc").open('r', encoding='utf8')
     return read_config_file(default_config_file, list_values=list_values)
 
 
 def write_default_config(destination: str, overwrite: bool = False) -> None:
     import mycli
 
-    with resources.files(mycli).joinpath("myclirc").open('r') as f:
+    with resources.files(mycli).joinpath("myclirc").open('r', encoding='utf8') as f:
         default_config = f.read()
     destination = os.path.expanduser(destination)
     if not overwrite and exists(destination):
         return
 
-    with open(destination, "w") as f:
+    with open(destination, "w", encoding='utf8') as f:
         f.write(default_config)
 
 
diff --git a/mycli_test/pytests/test_config.py b/mycli_test/pytests/test_config.py
index f7b66ab2..1d30b18f 100644
--- a/mycli_test/pytests/test_config.py
+++ b/mycli_test/pytests/test_config.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import logging
 import os
 import struct
+import subprocess
 import sys
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
 from types import SimpleNamespace
@@ -435,6 +436,34 @@ def test_create_and_write_default_config(tmp_path) -> None:
     assert '[main]' in destination.read_text(encoding='utf8')
 
 
+def test_default_config_does_not_use_locale_encoding(tmp_path) -> None:
+    # The packaged myclirc is UTF-8 with non-ASCII text, so opening it with the
+    # locale encoding fails on non-UTF-8 locales such as cp932 (Japanese Windows).
+    script = '\n'.join((
+        'import sys',
+        'from mycli.config import create_default_config, write_default_config',
+        'create_default_config()',
+        'write_default_config(sys.argv[1])',
+    ))
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [
+            sys.executable,
+            '-X',
+            'warn_default_encoding',
+            '-W',
+            'error::EncodingWarning:mycli.config',
+            '-c',
+            script,
+            str(tmp_path / 'myclirc'),
+        ],
+        capture_output=True,
+        encoding='utf8',
+        errors='replace',
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+    assert '[main]' in (tmp_path / 'myclirc').read_text(encoding='utf8')
+
+
 def test_get_mylogin_cnf_path_returns_none_for_missing_file(monkeypatch, tmp_path) -> None:
     monkeypatch.setenv('MYSQL_TEST_LOGIN_FILE', str(tmp_path / 'missing.mylogin.cnf'))