diff --git a/stepmania/src/BitmapText.cpp b/stepmania/src/BitmapText.cpp
index a20ee6becc..dae35744eb 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/BitmapText.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/BitmapText.cpp
@@ -153,10 +153,19 @@ void BitmapText::BuildChars()
 			const glyph &g = m_pFont->GetGlyph(szLine[j]);
 
 			/* set vertex positions */
-			v[0].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift,			iY+g.vshift,		  0 );	// top left
-			v[1].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift,			iY+g.vshift+g.height, 0 );	// bottom left
-			v[2].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift+g.width,	iY+g.vshift+g.height, 0 );	// bottom right
-			v[3].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift+g.width,	iY+g.vshift,		  0 );	// top right
+			float vshift = g.vshift;
+
+			/* Align the glyph with the font.  If either the font or the glyph is
+			 * kanji, align the centers; otherwise align the baselines. */
+			if(m_pFont->IsKanjiFont() || g.fp->kanji)
+				vshift += m_pFont->GetCenter() - g.fp->center;
+			else
+				vshift += m_pFont->GetBaseline() - g.fp->baseline;
+
+			v[0].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift,			iY+vshift,		  0 );	// top left
+			v[1].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift,			iY+vshift+g.height, 0 );// bottom left
+			v[2].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift+g.width,	iY+vshift+g.height, 0 );// bottom right
+			v[3].p = RageVector3( iX+g.hshift+g.width,	iY+vshift,		  0 );	// top right
 
 			/* Advance the cursor. */
 			iX += g.hadvance;