Japanese IME hiragana toggle keys?

Question

Hello! I installed the Japanese IME and changed my localisation to Japan so I could display Japanese in programs that don't normally support such characters such as Skype. However, when I am in the Japanese IME, I can't seem to toggle to hiragana with a keyboard shortcut? I can toggle to the EN from JP and vice versa, but I want to stay in the JP mode since clicking on hiragana each time is a pain. Any help for that?

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Answer 1

Hey moronicus_lithog,

Please check these keyboard shortcuts for Japanese IME.

Keyboard shortcuts

ALT-~ (tilde): Cycles between kana and direct input mode

ALT-SHIFT: Cycles through available languages

ALT-CAPS_LOCK:  Switches to katakana input mode

CTRL-CAPS_LOCK: Switches to hiragana input mode

SHIFT-ALT:  Switches between English mode and Japanese mode.

Control - ~: Switches between the current input mode and the English mode within the Japanese IME.

TIP: Switching between Hiragana input mode and Direct Input mode through the language bar is tedious. Instead you can switch by pressing Alt-Tilde (the key below ESC on your keyboard).  So, if you need to type Japanese, press Alt-Tilde and start typing. When you are done press Alt-Tilde again to switch back to English. To achieve the same result when in Japanese mode, press Control - ~.

Hope this answers your question.

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Regards,

Shinmila H - Microsoft Support

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Answer 2

The Japanese Language Kit (JLK ) has made Japanese language capability easily accessible to Macintosh users around the world. Users of theJLK can now use Japanese from within their own native language operating system and no longer need multiple operating systems.

Answer 3

Hey moronicus_lithog,

 

Please check these keyboard shortcuts for Japanese IME.

Keyboard shortcuts

ALT-~ (tilde): Cycles between kana and direct input mode

ALT-SHIFT: Cycles through available languages

ALT-CAPS_LOCK:  Switches to katakana input mode

CTRL-CAPS_LOCK: Switches to hiragana input mode

SHIFT-ALT:  Switches between English mode and Japanese mode.

Control - ~: Switches between the current input mode and the English mode within the Japanese IME.

TIP: Switching between Hiragana input mode and Direct Input mode through the language bar is tedious. Instead you can switch by pressing Alt-Tilde (the key below ESC on your keyboard).  So, if you need to type Japanese, press Alt-Tilde and start typing. When you are done press Alt-Tilde again to switch back to English. To achieve the same result when in Japanese mode, press Control - ~.

Hope this answers your question.

---

Regards,

Shinmila H - Microsoft Support

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Hi,

could you tell me how to change the assignment of these hotkeys? I'm on Windows 8.

Thank you very much!

Answer 4

Thank you very much!

Answer 5

Most of the combination keys work for me (Windows 7), but not all, for example, ALT-SHIFT and SHIFT-ALT do the same thing, cycling through languages (for me, English, Traditional Chinese (Chanjei & Phonetic), Japanese, and Korean).

I have two questions: (note that assume we are using an English keyboard, not Japanese keyboard)

1. What is "Direct Input Mode"? Does it mean kana input with no conversion?
2. In the input mode menu, there are the following choices:

(1) Hiragana

(2) Full width Katagana

(3) Full width Hiragana

(4) Half width Katagana

(5) Half width Katagana

My questions:

2-1. Why is there no full width option for Hiragana?

2-2. Where is the direct input mode?

2-3. Do the combination keys address the full/half width options?

Thanks again.