diff --git a/lib/js/src/thrift.js b/lib/js/src/thrift.js
index 35f679c..af45d9c 100644
--- a/lib/js/src/thrift.js
+++ b/lib/js/src/thrift.js
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@
         var xreq = this.getXmlHttpRequestObject();
 
         if (xreq.overrideMimeType) {
-            xreq.overrideMimeType('application/json');
+            xreq.overrideMimeType('application/vnd.apache.thrift.json; charset=utf-8');
         }
 
         if (callback) {
@@ -346,6 +346,12 @@
         }
 
         xreq.open('POST', this.url, !!async);
+
+        if (xreq.setRequestHeader) {
+            xreq.setRequestHeader('Accept', 'application/vnd.apache.thrift.json; charset=utf-8');
+            xreq.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/vnd.apache.thrift.json; charset=utf-8');
+        }
+
         xreq.send(this.send_buf);
         if (async && callback) {
             return;
@@ -387,7 +393,7 @@
             data: postData,
             type: 'POST',
             cache: false,
-            contentType: 'application/json',
+            contentType: 'application/vnd.apache.thrift.json; charset=utf-8',
             dataType: 'text thrift',
             converters: {
                 'text thrift' : function(responseData) {