In other words, you're trying to re-translate "Revelations: Persona"?
In that case, my advice would be this:
* Stop doing the kanji thing.
* Reuse the English version. They've already done all the hacking and programming for you.
* Just fix the text with your PSP's version text and/or graphics.
Actually, I don't think you quite get it. There would be
extra work required if I'd work with the US version. Namely:
* Finding out how to "unblock" the trigger to the Snow Queen Quest (when you enter the room required to begin the quest, a message appears saying "nothing here...", then your character automatically goes back to the previous room).
* Finding out how to work around the gibberish characters in the Snow Queen Quest (the speech boxes on the quest are not blank, they are filled with glitched fonts)
* Finding out how to change the "dollar" back to "yen" (I don't mean just the symbol, how much 1 money unit is worth is also different in those games, i'd have to change how much money every monster in the game gives you, plus how much items cost, etcetera etcetera)
* Finding out how to change the encounter rates back to their japanese originals
* Finding out how to change the EXP rates back to their japanese originals
* Finding out how to change the character graphics back to their japanese originals (me honestly i love Black Mark, but almost the entire fanbase doesn't)
* Finding out how to change the character voices back to their japanese originals (which i also love, but again... See previous item)
* Finding out how to change the scenario graphics back to their japanese originals (US version has grafitti n' other stuff while the japanese version has other stuff from jap culture)
Not to mention playing that quest in the US version involves lots of glitches, including one where the game eventually freezes and another one where the characters appear in the same space while battling.
I'm guessing you get the picture already...? Notice how I always said "finding out how", cause i don't know how. I'd have to find out how to do these stuff first.
In the other hand, all i need to do regarding the JPN version is:
* Edit the text from the speech boxes/menus/etcetera
See? It's easier to do the japanese one. I just need to figure out the stuff you mentioned about compression. Of course i don't intend on making it work in one single day, i'll look for tutorials about the matter.