Sometimes the JSON file has BOM (Byte Order Mark) which messes things up.
Try opening with:
```python
with open('data.json', 'r', encoding='utf-8-sig') as f:
data = json.load(f)
```
The `-sig` handles BOM. Saved me once!
Try opening with:
```python
with open('data.json', 'r', encoding='utf-8-sig') as f:
data = json.load(f)
```
The `-sig` handles BOM. Saved me once!
