Windows 7,

pinentry pops up to ask for a pass phrase.

i get the white text-entry box with the blinking cursor. No matter what keys I
hit, the box remains empty -- it does not allow entry. if i hit a bunch of keys
and then OK, it says my password is too short

possilbe relation: my windows 7 is set to japanese mode for the locale. while
GPA is in english, pinentry.exe displays the prompt (but not the cancel OK
buttons) in Japanese.