Japanese Input on Windows Vista and Windows 7

Japanese Input on Windows Vista and Windows 7

Changing Region and Language settings

Either click the Start button and enter "input" or click the "Change keyboards or other input methods" option in the Control Panel.

Changing Keyboards

On the top of the "Region and Language" window you will find four tabs. Choose "Keyboards and Languages" and click the "Change keyboards" button.

Adding a Japanese Keyboard

You will now see the screen shown below. Click the "Add" button to add Japanese input capability to your Windows 7 system.

Adding Japanese Microsoft IME

After clicking the "Add" button on the window above the screen displayed below will show. Scroll down and select "Japanese". In the Keyboard section choose "Microsoft IME" and click "OK".

Running Japanese Programmes under Vista and Windows 7

You will now be able to input Japanese characters under Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you would also like to install and run Japanese programmes you will need 100% Japanese support. In order to achieve that click the tap labeled "Administrative" in the "Region and Language" window. Clicking this tab will display the tab shown below.

Click on the "Change system locale..." button and select "Japanese (Japan)".

Selecting Japanese Input Type

You can now test your Japanese character input capabilities in text editors, graphic software or in Windows Office. Open the programme, open a new file or document and click it with your cursor. This will activate the Language Bar which is usually docked in the Taskbar, but can optionally be displayed floating freely on your desktop.
Click "EN English" and then select "JP Japanese (Japan)".

Changing the Language Bar settings

If you would like to change the display of your Language Bar by switching to another language, click the ツール (tools) tab, then select　プロティ (properties). The image below illustrates the Language Bar options and properties available.

Typing in Japanese

As mentionned above you can now type Japanese characters in any application. Once you have selected "JP Japanese (Japan)" in your Language Bar you can also select the Japanese input mode. In case it is not selected by default, choose "Hiragana". 

Once you have selected the Hiragana input mode you can type Japanese characters using English letters. In the example below we show you how to type 東京 (Tokyo).

1. Type the letters "to".
2. The English letters "to" will immediately be converted into the Hiragana "と".
3. The word "Tokyo" ("toukyou") will be rendered into the Hiragana "とうきょう".
4. In your application the Hiragana word will now appear underlined. Do not put any spaces between the characters. If you hit the "Enter" key the selected (underlined) characters will be converted into Kanji. In case there is more than one type of Kanji available you will be presented a dropdown box from where you can select the correct Kanji character.

Japanese Language Bar shortcuts

• ALT + SHIFT => change language
• ALT + ~ => change input type (Hiragana, Alpha-numeric)
• F7 => Full width katakana
• F8 => Half width katakana
• F9 => Full width alpha numeric
• F10 => Half width alpha numeric (standard English text)