Making sure it can be done on your computer:
1. Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel
2. Open Regional Options
3. Under the first tab (labeled general), in the box named Language Settings
for the system, make sure that the box next to Japanese is checked. Click apply,
and then OK.
4. Back in the Control Panel, click on Keyboard
5. Click on the Input Locales tab
6. In the box named Installed Input Locales, click on Add, then click on Japanese
(if this setting already appears, proceed to the next step), then Apply, and
finally OK.
Typing Japanese
1. Notice the square, blue icon with EN in the bottom right-hand corner of the
screen.
2. Click this icon, and select Microsoft IME 2000 (Japanese).
3. A small tool bar will appear in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
4. To type in Japanese, click on the button with the ‘A’ (the icon that is furthest
to the left on the tool bar), and click on hiragana. (note: a simple key-stroke
of alt-tilde will change the text inputting quickly from hiragana to English,
and vice versa. Also, alt-shift will switch between locales e.g. switching from English to the Japanese settings)
5. If the input mode is in hiragana and you wish to type in English, click on
the same button as above (note however that the ‘A’ has now become an ‘あ’) and
click on direct input.
6. To actually type Japanese, simply input the romanized version of what you
wish to type.
Things to keep in mind when inputting in Japanese
・ The space bar acts as an indication that kanji or katakana are wanted instead
of simply hiragana.
・ When you wish to input kanji enter the romanized text first, hit space bar,
and use the arrow keys to indicate the correct kanji you wish to use. Then hit
either the right arrow key or enter.
・ When you wish to input katakana enter the romanized text first, then simply
hit F7, and enter.
・ When inputting both Japanese and English, the keystroke alt-tilde is immensely
useful in switching between the two languages.
・ If you wish to enter the small つ, as in いって, type the first letter of the
character directly following the つ twice. As in this example, after typing い,
simply input t-t-e to make って
・ Small や, ゆ, and よ are easy to enter, and can usually be done phonetically.
じゃ, for example is simply ‘ja’; しょ is ‘sho’; にゅ, ‘nyu’.
・ The character を is inputted as ‘wo’.
Using Japanese in Instant Messaging
・ To use Japanese in instant messaging, you must go through Netscape. Both computers
must have Japanese inputting capabilities.
・ Simply follow the steps above to input Japanese in instant messenger.