diff --git a/include/flatbuffers/flexbuffers.h b/include/flatbuffers/flexbuffers.h
index 023654a60..abccd6c73 100644
--- a/include/flatbuffers/flexbuffers.h
+++ b/include/flatbuffers/flexbuffers.h
@@ -495,14 +495,14 @@ class Reference {
     if (type_ == TYPE_STRING) {
       String str(Indirect(), byte_width_);
       if (strings_quoted) {
-        flatbuffers::EscapeString(str.c_str(), str.length(), &s, true);
+        flatbuffers::EscapeString(str.c_str(), str.length(), &s, true, false);
       } else {
         s.append(str.c_str(), str.length());
       }
     } else if (IsKey()) {
       auto str = AsKey();
       if (keys_quoted) {
-        flatbuffers::EscapeString(str, strlen(str), &s, true);
+        flatbuffers::EscapeString(str, strlen(str), &s, true, false);
       } else {
         s += str;
       }
diff --git a/include/flatbuffers/idl.h b/include/flatbuffers/idl.h
index ca24ef445..4e0b08d92 100644
--- a/include/flatbuffers/idl.h
+++ b/include/flatbuffers/idl.h
@@ -379,6 +379,7 @@ struct IDLOptions {
   std::string object_suffix;
   bool union_value_namespacing;
   bool allow_non_utf8;
+  bool natural_utf8;
   std::string include_prefix;
   bool keep_include_path;
   bool binary_schema_comments;
@@ -439,6 +440,7 @@ struct IDLOptions {
         object_suffix("T"),
         union_value_namespacing(true),
         allow_non_utf8(false),
+        natural_utf8(false),
         keep_include_path(false),
         binary_schema_comments(false),
         binary_schema_builtins(false),
diff --git a/include/flatbuffers/minireflect.h b/include/flatbuffers/minireflect.h
index 4fb536e7c..fdafdeddb 100644
--- a/include/flatbuffers/minireflect.h
+++ b/include/flatbuffers/minireflect.h
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ struct ToStringVisitor : public IterationVisitor {
   void Float(float x) { s += NumToString(x); }
   void Double(double x) { s += NumToString(x); }
   void String(const struct String *str) {
-    EscapeString(str->c_str(), str->size(), &s, true);
+    EscapeString(str->c_str(), str->size(), &s, true, false);
   }
   void Unknown(const uint8_t *) { s += "(?)"; }
   void StartVector() { s += "[ "; }
diff --git a/include/flatbuffers/util.h b/include/flatbuffers/util.h
index 51f83cb22..9fd83354a 100644
--- a/include/flatbuffers/util.h
+++ b/include/flatbuffers/util.h
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ inline std::string WordWrap(const std::string in, size_t max_length,
 }
 
 inline bool EscapeString(const char *s, size_t length, std::string *_text,
-                         bool allow_non_utf8) {
+                         bool allow_non_utf8, bool natural_utf8) {
   std::string &text = *_text;
   text += "\"";
   for (uoffset_t i = 0; i < length; i++) {
@@ -421,7 +421,10 @@ inline bool EscapeString(const char *s, size_t length, std::string *_text,
               return false;
             }
           } else {
-            if (ucc <= 0xFFFF) {
+            if (natural_utf8) {
+              // utf8 points to past all utf-8 bytes parsed
+              text.append(s + i, static_cast<size_t>(utf8 - s - i));
+            } else if (ucc <= 0xFFFF) {
               // Parses as Unicode within JSON's \uXXXX range, so use that.
               text += "\\u";
               text += IntToStringHex(ucc, 4);
diff --git a/src/flatc.cpp b/src/flatc.cpp
index 60fabd50b..a2f3a7dcd 100644
--- a/src/flatc.cpp
+++ b/src/flatc.cpp
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ std::string FlatCompiler::GetUsageString(const char *program_name) const {
     "  --allow-non-utf8   Pass non-UTF-8 input through parser and emit nonstandard\n"
     "                     \\x escapes in JSON. (Default is to raise parse error on\n"
     "                     non-UTF-8 input.)\n"
+    "  --natural-utf8     Output strings with UTF-8 as human-readable strings.\n"
+    "                     By default, UTF-8 characters are printed as \\uXXXX escapes.\n"
     "  --defaults-json    Output fields whose value is the default when\n"
     "                     writing JSON\n"
     "  --unknown-json     Allow fields in JSON that are not defined in the\n"
@@ -182,6 +184,8 @@ int FlatCompiler::Compile(int argc, const char **argv) {
         opts.strict_json = true;
       } else if (arg == "--allow-non-utf8") {
         opts.allow_non_utf8 = true;
+      } else if (arg == "--natural-utf8") {
+        opts.natural_utf8 = true;
       } else if (arg == "--no-js-exports") {
         opts.skip_js_exports = true;
       } else if (arg == "--goog-js-export") {
diff --git a/src/idl_gen_text.cpp b/src/idl_gen_text.cpp
index cb2525bf8..41d19125e 100644
--- a/src/idl_gen_text.cpp
+++ b/src/idl_gen_text.cpp
@@ -119,7 +119,8 @@ bool Print<const void *>(const void *val, Type type, int indent,
       break;
     case BASE_TYPE_STRING: {
       auto s = reinterpret_cast<const String *>(val);
-      if (!EscapeString(s->c_str(), s->Length(), _text, opts.allow_non_utf8)) {
+      if (!EscapeString(s->c_str(), s->Length(), _text, opts.allow_non_utf8,
+                        opts.natural_utf8)) {
         return false;
       }
       break;
diff --git a/src/reflection.cpp b/src/reflection.cpp
index 4a6c64aef..18a47b2d6 100644
--- a/src/reflection.cpp
+++ b/src/reflection.cpp
@@ -91,7 +91,8 @@ std::string GetAnyValueS(reflection::BaseType type, const uint8_t *data,
             auto val = GetAnyFieldS(*table_field, fielddef, schema);
             if (fielddef.type()->base_type() == reflection::String) {
               std::string esc;
-              flatbuffers::EscapeString(val.c_str(), val.length(), &esc, true);
+              flatbuffers::EscapeString(val.c_str(), val.length(), &esc, true,
+                                        false);
               val = esc;
             }
             s += fielddef.name()->str();
diff --git a/tests/test.cpp b/tests/test.cpp
index 4977878a3..875e45d28 100644
--- a/tests/test.cpp
+++ b/tests/test.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*
+/*
  * Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -645,6 +645,22 @@ void ParseAndGenerateTextTest() {
   // If this fails, check registry.lasterror_.
   TEST_EQ(ok, true);
   TEST_EQ_STR(text.c_str(), jsonfile.c_str());
+
+  // Generate text for UTF-8 strings without escapes.
+  std::string jsonfile_utf8;
+  TEST_EQ(flatbuffers::LoadFile((test_data_path + "unicode_test.json").c_str(),
+                                false, &jsonfile_utf8),
+          true);
+  TEST_EQ(parser.Parse(jsonfile_utf8.c_str(), include_directories), true);
+  // To ensure it is correct, generate utf-8 text back from the binary.
+  std::string jsongen_utf8;
+  // request natural printing for utf-8 strings
+  parser.opts.natural_utf8 = true;
+  parser.opts.strict_json = true;
+  TEST_EQ(
+      GenerateText(parser, parser.builder_.GetBufferPointer(), &jsongen_utf8),
+      true);
+  TEST_EQ_STR(jsongen_utf8.c_str(), jsonfile_utf8.c_str());
 }
 
 void ReflectionTest(uint8_t *flatbuf, size_t length) {
diff --git a/tests/unicode_test.json b/tests/unicode_test.json
index 75e467a51..2894f0c85 100644
--- a/tests/unicode_test.json
+++ b/tests/unicode_test.json
@@ -1,13 +1,5 @@
 {
   "name": "unicode_test",
-  "testarrayoftables": [
-    { "name": "Цлїςσδε" },
-    { "name": "ﾌﾑｱﾑｶﾓｹﾓ" },
-    { "name": "フムヤムカモケモ" },
-    { "name": "㊀㊁㊂㊃㊄" },
-    { "name": "☳☶☲" },
-    { "name": "𡇙𝌆" }
-  ],
   "testarrayofstring": [
     "Цлїςσδε",
     "ﾌﾑｱﾑｶﾓｹﾓ",
@@ -15,5 +7,25 @@
     "㊀㊁㊂㊃㊄",
     "☳☶☲",
     "𡇙𝌆"
+  ],
+  "testarrayoftables": [
+    {
+      "name": "Цлїςσδε"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "ﾌﾑｱﾑｶﾓｹﾓ"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "フムヤムカモケモ"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "㊀㊁㊂㊃㊄"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "☳☶☲"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "𡇙𝌆"
+    }
   ]
 }