#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use 5.14.0;
use utf8;
use Encode;
use JSON;

my $json = JSON->new->utf8->pretty();

STDOUT->binmode(":utf8");
my $umbreon = "ブラッキー";
my $test    = "\x{100}\x{2764}";

say "Name: $umbreon (is utf8: " . utf8::is_utf8($umbreon) . ")";
say "Test: $test (is utf8: " . utf8::is_utf8($test) . ")";

my $data = {
   name => $umbreon,
   test => $test,
};

open (my $fh, ">", "utf8-test.txt");
binmode($fh, ":utf8");
print {$fh} "Name: $umbreon\nTest: $test\n";
close($fh);

my $encoded = $json->encode($data);
print "encoded (original): $encoded (is utf8: " . utf8::is_utf8($encoded) . ")\n";
$encoded = Encode::decode("utf-8", $encoded);
print "encoded: $encoded (utf8: " . utf8::is_utf8($encoded) . ")\n";
open (my $fh2, ">", "utf8-test.json");
binmode($fh2, ":utf8");
print {$fh2} $encoded;
close($fh2);
__END__

[kirsle@vostro ~]$ perl utf8-test.pl 
Name: ブラッキー (is utf8: 1)
Test: Ā❤ (is utf8: 1)
encoded (original): {
   "test" : "�€❤",
   "name" : "�ƒ–�ƒ��ƒƒ�‚��ƒ�"
}
 (is utf8: )
encoded: {
   "test" : "Ā❤",
   "name" : "ブラッキー"
}
 (utf8: 1)