diff --git a/sat_frontends/jp/xmlui_manager.py b/sat_frontends/jp/xmlui_manager.py
index 6b1e0cdc..9dead4dd 100644
--- a/sat_frontends/jp/xmlui_manager.py
+++ b/sat_frontends/jp/xmlui_manager.py
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ class StringWidget(xmlui_base.StringWidget, InputWidget):
             if self.value:
                 elems.append(_(u"(enter: {default})").format(default=self.value))
             elems.extend([C.A_HEADER, u"> "])
-            value = raw_input(A.color(*elems))
+            value = raw_input(A.color(*elems).encode('utf-8'))
             if value:
                 #  TODO: empty value should be possible
                 #       an escape key should be used for default instead of enter with empty value