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How to Use Japanese Keyboard in Windows 10

Learn to type Hiragana or Katakana characters on your Windows 10 keyboard

3 min. read

Updated onAugust 2, 2024

updated onAugust 2, 2024

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Key notes

Windows 10 is the most popular and the latest OS you can install from Microsoft. Upon installation, it allows you to bring some personal customizations and take advantage of a variety of features.

One such feature is the keyboard language. You can add multiple languages so you don’t have to change the keyboard itself whenever you want to type in a language likeJapanese.

Can I use the Japanese keyboard on my PC?

Because theJapaneselanguage uses different characters than English, Windows also integrates a feature calledJapaneseIME.

This is typing software that is already built into your system. You can typeJapanesewords in Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji using an Englishkeyboard.

There are basically two methods to type the characters, Romaji Input, and Kana Input. Currently, for the Japanese people, Romaji Input is the preferred method.

The Romanji input is a Romanized version ofJapanese, literally meaning the Roman character that the other languages have. The other is via keyboard keys corresponding to theJapaneseKana.

In this article, we will guide you on how to easily add the Japanese language pack and start using it as soon as possible.

How do I use the Japanese keyboard on Windows 10?

1. Add the Japanese keyboard on Windows 10

Click on theStarticon and selectSettings.
Go toTime & Language.

3.From the left menu, chooseLanguage.

4.UnderPreferred Languages, click onAdd a language.

TypeJapanesein the search bar and once it is found, select it and click on theNextbutton.

6.Select the optional features you want then clickInstall.

Windows willdownload andinstall the language pack and the keyboard layout.
After installing, you will see it on theLanguage Bar Iconon the taskbar.From here, you can choose to use the Japanese keyboard.
To change the keyboard layout, click on theAicon that appeared.

10.The icon will change toHiraganaあcharacter.

11.Now you can type in Japanese with your keyboard.

In order to use the Japanese keyboard on your device, you must first add it manually viaTime & Languagesettings.

After you confirm your selection for Japanese in theAdd a languagesection, you can choose whether you want to add optional features as well, such as handwriting and TTS.

2. Manually enable the Japanese keyboard

In order to switch to Japanese, you have to see the language icon on the right side of your taskbar, as described in the method above.

However, if you don’t have it, follow the steps below to activate it.

From the smallA icon,you can switch to different IME options. By default, it will be selected as half-width alphanumeric.

If yourJapanese keyboard IME is not working, check out our dedicated article to find out how to fix it.

3. Change the Japanese keyboard’s mode

With a right-click on the A icon, you can choose the keyboard mode you want, Hiragana or Katakana.

To use Kanji, instead of pressing Enter afterwritingthe word, you need to hit the space key.

A list will pop up and you can use the arrow keys and space bar to go through the available options.

Now you are all set and can practiceJapanesetyping without needing a specialkeyboard.

Let us know whether you found our article useful and learned everything you wanted to know about adding and using the Japanese keyboard on your device.

If you’re learning Japanese, you might be interested in theRikaikun Firefox extensionthat will help you read Japanese online.

How to Use Japanese Keyboard in Windows 10#

Can I use the Japanese keyboard on my PC?#

How do I use the Japanese keyboard on Windows 10?#

1. Add the Japanese keyboard on Windows 10#

2. Manually enable the Japanese keyboard#

3. Change the Japanese keyboard’s mode#