diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index f8fdcc4c86..43fe5612ec 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
-Tue Oct 21 15:56:56 2014  Martin Duerst <duerst@it.aoyama.ac.jp>
+Tue Oct 21 17:32:32 2014  Martin Duerst <duerst@it.aoyama.ac.jp>
+
+	* common.mk: Adding explicit creation of directory
+	  enc/unicode/data because git doesn't handle empty
+	  directories.
+
+Tue Oct 21 17:12:12 2014  Martin Duerst <duerst@it.aoyama.ac.jp>
 
 	* lib/unicode_normalize/tables.rb: Committing to make version
 	  update easier and more predictable, and reducing compilation
diff --git a/common.mk b/common.mk
index 4697616900..2f95d94372 100644
--- a/common.mk
+++ b/common.mk
@@ -1097,6 +1097,7 @@ update-gems: PHONY
 
 update-unicode: PHONY
 	$(ECHO) Downloading Unicode data files...
+	$(Q) $(MAKEDIRS) "$(srcdir)/enc/unicode/data"
 	$(Q) $(BASERUBY) -C "$(srcdir)/enc/unicode/data" \
 	    ../../../tool/downloader.rb -e $(ALWAYS_UPDATE_UNICODE:yes=-a) unicode \
 	    UnicodeData.txt CompositionExclusions.txt NormalizationTest.txt