my $str1 = qq(あ);
my $str2 = qq(え);

print oct($str1); # gives me 0
print oct($str2); # gives me 0
print pack "CC", $str1; #gives me nothing
print pack "CC", $str2; #gives me nothing
print unpack "H2", $str1; #gives me e3
print unpack "H2", $str2; #gives me e3
printf("0x%02x\n", $str1); #gives me 0x00
printf("0x%02x\n", $str2); #gives me 0x00