diff --git a/test/date/test_date_parse.rb b/test/date/test_date_parse.rb
index c7a9a10ccc..e9e0ae83fc 100644
--- a/test/date/test_date_parse.rb
+++ b/test/date/test_date_parse.rb
@@ -640,9 +640,7 @@ class TestDateParse < Test::Unit::TestCase
   end
 
   def test_parse_utf8
-    h = DateTime._parse(
-"Sun\xe3\x80\x80Aug 16 01:02:03 \xe6\x97\xa5\xe6\x9c\xac 2009".
-			force_encoding('utf-8'))
+    h = DateTime._parse("Sun\u{3000}Aug 16 01:02:03 \u{65e5}\u{672c} 2009")
     assert_equal(2009, h[:year])
     assert_equal(8, h[:mon])
     assert_equal(16, h[:mday])
@@ -650,8 +648,7 @@ class TestDateParse < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal(1, h[:hour])
     assert_equal(2, h[:min])
     assert_equal(3, h[:sec])
-    assert_equal("\xe6\x97\xa5\xe6\x9c\xac".
-		 force_encoding('utf-8'), h[:zone])
+    assert_equal("\u{65e5}\u{672c}", h[:zone])
   end
 
   def test_parse__ex