Index: include/ruby/intern.h
===================================================================
--- include/ruby/intern.h	(revision 42140)
+++ include/ruby/intern.h	(working copy)
@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@
 #define rb_argv rb_get_argv()
 RUBY_EXTERN VALUE rb_argv0;
 VALUE rb_get_argv(void);
-void *rb_load_file(const char*);
+void *rb_load_file(VALUE);
 /* signal.c */
 VALUE rb_f_kill(int, VALUE*);
 #ifdef POSIX_SIGNAL
Index: load.c
===================================================================
--- load.c	(revision 42140)
+++ load.c	(working copy)
@@ -592,7 +592,7 @@
 	VALUE iseq;
 
 	th->mild_compile_error++;
-	node = (NODE *)rb_load_file(RSTRING_PTR(fname));
+	node = (NODE *)rb_load_file(fname);
 	loaded = TRUE;
 	iseq = rb_iseq_new_top(node, rb_str_new2("<top (required)>"), fname, rb_realpath_internal(Qnil, fname, 1), Qfalse);
 	th->mild_compile_error--;
Index: ruby.c
===================================================================
--- ruby.c	(revision 42140)
+++ ruby.c	(working copy)
@@ -1748,12 +1748,11 @@
 }
 
 void *
-rb_load_file(const char *fname)
+rb_load_file(VALUE fname)
 {
     struct cmdline_options opt;
-    VALUE fname_v = rb_str_new_cstr(fname);
 
-    return load_file(rb_parser_new(), fname_v, 0, cmdline_options_init(&opt));
+    return load_file(rb_parser_new(), fname, 0, cmdline_options_init(&opt));
 }
 
 static void
Index: win32/file.c
===================================================================
--- win32/file.c	(revision 42140)
+++ win32/file.c	(working copy)
@@ -686,13 +686,20 @@
 rb_file_load_ok(const char *path)
 {
     int ret = 1;
-    DWORD attr = GetFileAttributes(path);
+    size_t len;
+    wchar_t* wpath;
+
+    len = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, path, -1, NULL, 0) + 1;
+    wpath = (wchar_t *)xmalloc(len * sizeof(wchar_t));
+    MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, path, -1, wpath, len);
+
+    DWORD attr = GetFileAttributesW(wpath);
     if (attr == INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES ||
 	attr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) {
 	ret = 0;
     }
     else {
-	HANDLE h = CreateFile(path, GENERIC_READ,
+	HANDLE h = CreateFileW(wpath, GENERIC_READ,
 			      FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
 			      NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
 	if (h != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
@@ -702,6 +709,7 @@
 	    ret = 0;
 	}
     }
+    xfree(wpath);
     return ret;
 }