tracking changes to python idle:
python Patch #520483: Make IDLE OutputWindow handle Unicode.
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/OutputWindow.py b/Lib/idlelib/OutputWindow.py
index 12280ad..ed6774b 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/OutputWindow.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/OutputWindow.py
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
 
     def write(self, s, tags=(), mark="iomark"):
         self.text.mark_gravity(mark, RIGHT)
-        self.text.insert(mark, str(s), tags)
+        self.text.insert(mark, s, tags)
         self.text.mark_gravity(mark, LEFT)
         self.text.see(mark)
         self.text.update()