diff --git a/whois.c b/whois.c
index 622c7cc..e09c74e 100644
--- a/whois.c
+++ b/whois.c
@@ -1135,7 +1135,7 @@ int japanese_locale(void)
 {
     char *lang;
 
-    lang = getenv("LC_MESSAGE");
+    lang = getenv("LC_MESSAGES");
     if (lang) {
 	if (strneq(lang, "ja", 2))
 	    return 0;