diff --git a/docker/mysql/init/01_shop.sql b/docker/mysql/init/01_shop.sql
index a5df51b0..1e9bbc58 100644
--- a/docker/mysql/init/01_shop.sql
+++ b/docker/mysql/init/01_shop.sql
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+-- The entrypoint pipes this file through the mysql client, which reads it as
+-- latin1 unless told otherwise: non-ASCII text would be stored double-encoded.
+SET NAMES utf8mb4;
+
 -- Demo schema for Querya manual testing (MySQL 8.4+).
 USE querya;
 
diff --git a/docker/mysql/init/02_all_types.sql b/docker/mysql/init/02_all_types.sql
index f2069593..83c4c5b5 100644
--- a/docker/mysql/init/02_all_types.sql
+++ b/docker/mysql/init/02_all_types.sql
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+-- The entrypoint pipes this file through the mysql client, which reads it as
+-- latin1 unless told otherwise: non-ASCII text would be stored double-encoded.
+SET NAMES utf8mb4;
+
 USE querya;
 
 -- Comprehensive MySQL Data Types Showcase Table