language for SLES 11.3 service not being set correctly during boot

SLES 11.3 32bit and 64bit

After rebooting the a system set up such that it should be logging in Japanese, it does not:

dtc5551owjlupna:~ # cat /etc/sysconfig/puppet
LANG=ja_JP.utf8
LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.utf8
LC_NUMERIC="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_TIME="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_COLLATE="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_MONETARY="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_MESSAGES="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_PAPER="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_NAME="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_ADDRESS="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_TELEPHONE="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="ja_JP.utf8"
LC_ALL=
dtc5551owjlupna:~ #

/var/log/messages:
Aug 14 14:37:34 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[3290]: found_type_tst
Aug 14 14:37:34 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[3290]: Applied catalog in 0.04 seconds

If I source the same file and run puppet I get the right locale. Although it
appears that we're seeing more messages (which is interesting):

dtc5551owjlupna:~ # date ; puppet agent -t ; tail -f /var/log/messages
2017年 8月 14日 月曜日 14:45:13 PDT
Info: JA:Ŭşīƞɠ ƈǿƞƒīɠŭřḗḓ ḗƞṽīřǿƞḿḗƞŧ 'production'
Info: JA:Řḗŧřīḗṽīƞɠ pluginfacts
Info: JA:Řḗŧřīḗṽīƞɠ plugin
Info: JA:Ƈȧƈħīƞɠ catalog ƒǿř dtc5551owjlupna.delivery.puppetlabs.net
Notice: found_type_tst
Info: JA:Ȧƥƥŀẏīƞɠ ƈǿƞƒīɠŭřȧŧīǿƞ ṽḗřşīǿƞ '1502747116'
Notice: JA:Ȧƥƥŀīḗḓ ƈȧŧȧŀǿɠJA: īƞ 0.08 şḗƈǿƞḓş
Aug 14 14:45:14 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4138]: exiting
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4132]: JA:Ŭşīƞɠ ƈǿƞƒīɠŭřḗḓ ḗƞṽīřǿƞḿḗƞŧ 'production'
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4132]: JA:Řḗŧřīḗṽīƞɠ pluginfacts
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4132]: JA:Řḗŧřīḗṽīƞɠ plugin
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4168]: exiting
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4169]: exiting
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4132]: JA:Ƈȧƈħīƞɠ catalog ƒǿř dtc5551owjlupna.delivery.puppetlabs.net
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4132]: found_type_tst
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4132]: JA:Ȧƥƥŀẏīƞɠ ƈǿƞƒīɠŭřȧŧīǿƞ ṽḗřşīǿƞ '1502747116'
Aug 14 14:45:15 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4132]: JA:Ȧƥƥŀīḗḓ ƈȧŧȧŀǿɠJA: īƞ 0.08 şḗƈǿƞḓş

Yet when I set everything in my environment to english and restart the service, I get japanese (as its configured and expected to do).

dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LANG=en_US.utf8
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_NUMERIC="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_TIME="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_COLLATE="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_MONETARY="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_MESSAGES="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_PAPER="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_NAME="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_ADDRESS="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.utf8"
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # LC_ALL=
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # date
Mon Aug 14 14:49:22 PDT 2017
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # puppet apply -e 'service

'
Notice: Compiled catalog for dtc5551owjlupna.delivery.puppetlabs.net in environment production in 0.22 seconds
Notice: /Stage[main]/Main/Service[puppet]/ensure: ensure changed 'running' to 'stopped'
Notice: Applied catalog in 0.16 seconds
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # puppet apply -e 'service

'
Notice: Compiled catalog for dtc5551owjlupna.delivery.puppetlabs.net in environment production in 0.22 seconds
Notice: /Stage[main]/Main/Service[puppet]/ensure: ensure changed 'stopped' to 'running'
Notice: Applied catalog in 1.71 seconds
dtc5551owjlupna:~ # tail /var/log/messages
Aug 14 14:49:24 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4569]: exiting
Aug 14 14:49:24 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4482]: JA:Ƈǿŭŀḓ ƞǿŧ JA:řŭƞ: SIGQUIT
Aug 14 14:49:26 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4601]: exiting
Aug 14 14:49:26 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4602]: exiting
Aug 14 14:49:26 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4631]: exiting
Aug 14 14:49:26 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4632]: exiting
Aug 14 14:49:28 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4658]: exiting
Aug 14 14:49:28 dtc5551owjlupna dhcpcd[4659]: exiting
Aug 14 14:49:28 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4662]: JA:Řḗǿƥḗƞīƞɠ ŀǿɠ ƒīŀḗş
Aug 14 14:49:28 dtc5551owjlupna puppet-agent[4662]: JA:Şŧȧřŧīƞɠ Ƥŭƥƥḗŧ ƈŀīḗƞŧ ṽḗřşīǿƞ 5.0.1
dtc5551owjlupna:~ #

There is something different about how the system starts the service during boot up that its not getting the configured language.