diff --git a/spacy/gold.pyx b/spacy/gold.pyx
index aea055ead..985887630 100644
--- a/spacy/gold.pyx
+++ b/spacy/gold.pyx
@@ -10,10 +10,7 @@ from os import path
 
 from libc.string cimport memset
 
-try:
-    import ujson as json
-except ImportError:
-    import json
+import ujson as json
 
 from .syntax import nonproj
 
@@ -149,7 +146,7 @@ def read_json_file(loc, docs_filter=None):
         for filename in os.listdir(loc):
             yield from read_json_file(path.join(loc, filename))
     else:
-        with open(loc) as file_:
+        with io.open(loc, 'r', encoding='utf8') as file_:
             docs = json.load(file_)
         for doc in docs:
             if docs_filter is not None and not docs_filter(doc):
diff --git a/spacy/lemmatizer.py b/spacy/lemmatizer.py
index 78cd744cb..363e99fc5 100644
--- a/spacy/lemmatizer.py
+++ b/spacy/lemmatizer.py
@@ -2,10 +2,7 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals, print_function
 import codecs
 import pathlib
 
-try:
-    import ujson as json
-except ImportError:
-    import json
+import ujson as json
 
 from .parts_of_speech import NOUN, VERB, ADJ, PUNCT
 
diff --git a/spacy/vocab.pyx b/spacy/vocab.pyx
index 493338079..999f9608c 100644
--- a/spacy/vocab.pyx
+++ b/spacy/vocab.pyx
@@ -57,24 +57,24 @@ cdef class Vocab:
                 "vectors argument to Vocab.load() deprecated. "
                 "Install vectors after loading.")
         if tag_map is True and (path / 'vocab' / 'tag_map.json').exists():
-            with (path / 'vocab' / 'tag_map.json').open() as file_:
+            with (path / 'vocab' / 'tag_map.json').open('r', encoding='utf8') as file_:
                 tag_map = json.load(file_)
         if lex_attr_getters is not None \
         and oov_prob is True \
         and (path / 'vocab' / 'oov_prob').exists():
-            with (path / 'vocab' / 'oov_prob').open() as file_:
+            with (path / 'vocab' / 'oov_prob').open('r', encoding='utf8') as file_:
                 oov_prob = float(file_.read())
             lex_attr_getters[PROB] = lambda text: oov_prob
         if lemmatizer is True:
             lemmatizer = Lemmatizer.load(path)
         if serializer_freqs is True and (path / 'vocab' / 'serializer.json').exists():
-            with (path / 'vocab' / 'serializer.json').open() as file_:
+            with (path / 'vocab' / 'serializer.json').open('r', encoding='utf8') as file_:
                 serializer_freqs = json.load(file_)
 
         cdef Vocab self = cls(lex_attr_getters=lex_attr_getters, tag_map=tag_map,
                               lemmatizer=lemmatizer, serializer_freqs=serializer_freqs)
 
-        with (path / 'vocab' / 'strings.json').open() as file_:
+        with (path / 'vocab' / 'strings.json').open('r', encoding='utf8') as file_:
             self.strings.load(file_)
         self.load_lexemes(path / 'vocab' / 'lexemes.bin')
         return self