How to Type in Japanese on Windows, Mac, and Phone

To type in Japanese, you turn on a Japanese input method editor (usually shortened to IME) and type words the way they sound using the Latin alphabet, and the software turns those letters into hiragana, katakana, and kanji for you. It is far easier than it looks: you do not need a special keyboard, you do not need to memorize a new key layout, and you do not need to know kanji to produce kanji.

This guide covers setup on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android, the romaji spellings for every hiragana and katakana, the small characters that trip people up, kanji conversion with the spacebar, punctuation, and what to do when the keyboard does not show up.

What Typing in Japanese Actually Means (Romaji Input Explained)

Japanese writing uses three sets of characters together: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Typing all three from an ordinary keyboard sounds impossible until you see how the input method works.

Romaji means writing Japanese sounds with Latin letters. You type ka and the input method shows か. You type sushi and it shows すし. Every Japanese syllable has a spelling you can produce with the keys you already have.

Then comes the second step. Once the sounds are on screen as hiragana, you press the spacebar and the input method offers kanji that match those sounds. You pick the one you meant, press Enter, and you are done.

So typing in Japanese is really two small habits:

1. Type the sounds.
2. Choose the characters.

That is the whole method. Everything below is detail on top of those two steps.

A quick note on the physical keyboard. Japanese keyboards sold in Japan have kana printed on the keys, and some people type using kana input, pressing one key per character. Most learners, and plenty of native speakers, use romaji input instead. There is no single right way; do what feels right for you. This guide focuses on romaji input because it works on any keyboard in any country.

How to Set Up a Japanese Keyboard on Windows

Windows includes the Microsoft IME for Japanese. You add it once and it stays available in every app.

1. Open Settings, then go to Time & language, then Language & region.
2. Click Add a language.
3. Search for Japanese (日本語) and select it, then click Next.
4. On the optional features screen, you can leave everything unchecked if you only want to type Japanese and keep Windows in English. Click Install.
5. Wait for the download to finish. Japanese now appears in your language list.
6. Click the three dots next to Japanese, choose Language options, and confirm that Microsoft IME is listed under Keyboards. If it is not, click Add a keyboard and pick it.

To switch into Japanese, press Windows key + Spacebar. A small indicator appears near the clock showing the current mode.

Inside the Japanese IME there are two modes you will flip between constantly:

• あ means kana mode. What you type becomes hiragana.
• A means alphanumeric mode. What you type stays as English letters.

Press Alt + the grave accent key (the ~ key above Tab) to toggle between them. You can also click the indicator and choose the mode from the menu.

Right-clicking the IME indicator opens settings where you can change the conversion behavior, turn predictive candidates on or off, and adjust how the candidate list appears.

How to Set Up a Japanese Keyboard on Mac

macOS calls it an input source rather than an IME, but it does the same job.

1. Open the Apple menu, then System Settings.
2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar.
3. Next to Input Sources, click Edit.
4. Click the plus button at the bottom left.
5. Select Japanese in the list, choose Japanese - Romaji, and click Add.

Romaji is the option you want when your keyboard has Latin letters printed on it. Text you type is converted to hiragana automatically.

To switch input sources, press Control + Spacebar. Many people also set Caps Lock to toggle between Japanese and English, which is a comfortable one key switch. You can turn that on in the same Input Sources panel.

Once Japanese is active, the flag or あ symbol in your menu bar changes. Clicking it lets you pick the input mode directly: Hiragana, Katakana, or Full width Roman, among others.

To change conversion settings, click the input menu in the menu bar, choose Open Japanese - Romaji Settings, then select Japanese - Romaji in the sidebar.

How to Set Up Japanese Typing on iPhone and Android

Phones are the quickest of all, and they add one option computers do not have: flick input, where you hold a kana key and swipe in a direction to reach the other four vowels in that row.

iPhone

1. Open Settings, then General, then Keyboard, then Keyboards.
2. Tap Add New Keyboard.
3. Choose Japanese.
4. Pick Romaji for a familiar QWERTY layout, Kana for the flick keypad, or turn on both.

Android

1. Open Settings, then System, then Languages & input, then On-screen keyboard.
2. Tap your keyboard app, usually Gboard.
3. Tap Languages, then Add keyboard.
4. Choose Japanese, then select the QWERTY layout, the 12 key flick layout, or both.

On either phone, tap the globe key on the keyboard to switch between languages. Kanji candidates appear in a strip above the keys; tap the one you want.

If you are new to flick input, try it for a week before deciding. It is slower at first and often faster later, because your thumb travels a shorter distance. But romaji on a phone works perfectly well too.

Windows vs Mac vs iPhone vs Android at a Glance

	Windows	Mac	iPhone	Android
What to add	Microsoft IME (Japanese language)	Japanese - Romaji input source	Japanese keyboard (Romaji or Kana)	Japanese in Gboard languages
Where to find it	Settings, Time & language, Language & region	System Settings, Keyboard, Input Sources	Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards	Settings, System, Languages & input
Download needed	Yes, a short one	No, built in	No, built in	Usually no
Switch language	Windows key + Spacebar	Control + Spacebar, or Caps Lock	Globe key	Globe key
Switch kana and letters	Alt + grave accent key	Input menu, or Caps Lock	Long press globe key	Long press globe key
Kanji conversion	Spacebar	Spacebar	Tap a candidate	Tap a candidate
Flick input available	No	No	Yes, Kana keyboard	Yes, 12 key layout
Setup time	Around 3 minutes	Around 1 minute	Under 1 minute	Under 1 minute

Typing Hiragana with Romaji (Reference Table)

There are 46 basic hiragana. Once you know the pattern, you can guess almost all of them: a consonant plus a vowel, typed exactly as it sounds.

	a	i	u	e	o
(none)	あ a	い i	う u	え e	お o
k	か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko
s	さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so
t	た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to
n	な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no
h	は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
m	ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
y	や ya		ゆ yu		よ yo
r	ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
w	わ wa				を wo
n	ん nn or n'

Three of these deserve a note.

• し is shi, not si, in most setups. Both usually work. ち is chi and つ is tsu in the same way.
• を is typed wo. It is the object particle and you will use it constantly.
• ん is safest as nn. Typing a single n works when the next letter is a consonant, but nn never fails.

The voiced sounds use the same pattern with a different first letter:

	a	i	u	e	o
g	が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go
z	ざ za	じ ji	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo
d	だ da	ぢ di	づ du	で de	ど do
b	ば ba	び bi	ぶ bu	べ be	ぼ bo
p	ぱ pa	ぴ pi	ぷ pu	ぺ pe	ぽ po

And the combination sounds, made by adding a small ya, yu, or yo:

	ya	yu	yo
k	きゃ kya	きゅ kyu	きょ kyo
s	しゃ sha	しゅ shu	しょ sho
t	ちゃ cha	ちゅ chu	ちょ cho
n	にゃ nya	にゅ nyu	にょ nyo
h	ひゃ hya	ひゅ hyu	ひょ hyo
m	みゃ mya	みゅ myu	みょ myo
r	りゃ rya	りゅ ryu	りょ ryo
g	ぎゃ gya	ぎゅ gyu	ぎょ gyo
j	じゃ ja	じゅ ju	じょ jo
b	びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
p	ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo

If you would like all of this on paper next to your keyboard, our free printable Japanese writing practice sheets include a one page romaji to kana reference you can print and keep beside your screen. There is also an interactive hiragana and katakana chart if you prefer to tap a character and hear it.

Typing Katakana with Romaji (Reference Table)

Katakana has the same 46 basic characters and the same romaji spellings. The difference is how you tell the input method you want katakana instead of hiragana.

You have three ways:

1. Type, then press F7. Type koohii, press F7, and コーヒー appears. This is the most common method and works on Windows and Mac.
2. Switch the input mode to katakana. Use the IME menu or input menu. Everything you type comes out as katakana until you switch back.
3. Let the input method guess. Loanwords like コーヒー and パソコン often appear as candidates when you press the spacebar, because the software recognizes the word.

The full width katakana set:

	a	i	u	e	o
(none)	ア a	イ i	ウ u	エ e	オ o
k	カ ka	キ ki	ク ku	ケ ke	コ ko
s	サ sa	シ shi	ス su	セ se	ソ so
t	タ ta	チ chi	ツ tsu	テ te	ト to
n	ナ na	ニ ni	ヌ nu	ネ ne	ノ no
h	ハ ha	ヒ hi	フ fu	ヘ he	ホ ho
m	マ ma	ミ mi	ム mu	メ me	モ mo
y	ヤ ya		ユ yu		ヨ yo
r	ラ ra	リ ri	ル ru	レ re	ロ ro
w	ワ wa				ヲ wo
n	ン nn

Katakana also has extra combinations for foreign sounds that hiragana rarely needs:

Character	Romaji	Example
ファ	fa	ファイル (file)
フィ	fi	フィルム (film)
ウェ	we	ウェブ (web)
ヴ	vu	ヴァイオリン (violin)
ティ	texi or thi	パーティー (party)
ディ	dexi or dhi	ディスク (disk)
チェ	che	チェック (check)
シェ	she	シェア (share)

If you want to write your own name in katakana, our katakana name converter does the sound mapping for you and shows the result you can then type yourself.

Small Characters, Double Consonants, and Long Vowels

This is where most beginners get stuck for a day and then never think about it again.

The small tsu (っ / ッ)

The small tsu marks a pause, written in romaji as a doubled consonant. You type it by doubling the consonant that follows it.

You type	You get	Meaning
kitte	きって	stamp
zasshi	ざっし	magazine
gakkou	がっこう	school
chotto	ちょっと	a little
kissaten	きっさてん	coffee shop

If you need a small っ by itself, type xtsu or ltsu. The x and l prefixes are the general shrink keys.

Small vowels and small ya, yu, yo

Add x or l in front of any kana to make it small.

You type	You get
xa	ぁ
xi	ぃ
xu	ぅ
xe	ぇ
xo	ぉ
xya	ゃ
xyu	ゅ
xyo	ょ

You rarely need these, because typing kyo produces きょ in one go. They are useful for foreign sounds and for names.

Long vowels

Hiragana lengthens vowels by adding another vowel character. Type it exactly as spelled: ookii gives おおきい, and koukou gives こうこう.

Katakana uses the long vowel mark ー instead. Press the hyphen key while in kana mode. Typing ko-hi- gives コーヒー and ke-ki gives ケーキ.

That hyphen key produces the proper full width ー, not a Latin hyphen, as long as your input is set to Japanese. If you get a plain -, you are still in alphanumeric mode.

Converting to Kanji with the Spacebar

Here is the step that turns kana into real Japanese writing, broken down key by key.

1. Type the word in romaji. Type nihon. You see にほん on screen with a dotted underline. That underline means the text is still editable and not yet confirmed.
2. Press the spacebar once. The input method offers its best guess: 日本. Often that is exactly what you wanted.
3. Press the spacebar again if it is wrong. A candidate list opens showing other options: 二本, 日本, にほん, ニホン, and so on.
4. Move through the list. Press the spacebar again, or use the up and down arrow keys, to highlight the one you want. Many input methods show a short definition or usage note next to each candidate.
5. Press Enter to confirm. The underline disappears. The word is now committed.
6. Or press Escape to throw the conversion away and go back to your hiragana.

A few things that make this smoother:

• Convert whole phrases, not single words. Type kyouhaiitenkidesune, press the spacebar, and you usually get 今日はいい天気ですね in one shot. The input method uses context to pick the right kanji, so longer chunks are often more accurate than short ones.
• Adjust the conversion boundaries. If the input method splits a phrase in the wrong place, press Shift + the left or right arrow key to shrink or grow the current chunk before choosing.
• Learn the function key shortcuts. They save real time:

Key	What it does
F6	Convert to hiragana
F7	Convert to full width katakana
F8	Convert to half width katakana
F9	Convert to full width Latin letters
F10	Convert to half width Latin letters

So typing tokyo then F7 gives トキョ, while typing toukyou then the spacebar gives 東京. Spelling matters, because the input method matches sounds.

Choosing the right candidate is a reading skill. The keyboard can offer you 帰る, 返る, and 変える, but only you know which one belongs in your sentence. If you want to see how a kanji is built before you commit to it, our animated kanji stroke order lookup plays the strokes one at a time, and the stroke order demo on the home page shows the same idea in a few seconds.

Typing Japanese Punctuation and Symbols

Once you are in kana mode, most punctuation is already remapped for you.

Symbol	Name	How to type it
。	maru, the circle period	The period key
、	ten, the comma	The comma key
「 」	corner brackets, used as quotation marks	The open and close bracket keys
『 』	double corner brackets	Type z[ and z] in Microsoft IME
・	nakaguro, the middle dot	The forward slash key
ー	long vowel mark	The hyphen key
〜	wave dash	Type z- in Microsoft IME
？	full width question mark	Shift plus the question mark key
！	full width exclamation mark	Shift plus 1
々	repeat mark	Type onaji and convert
¥	yen sign	Type en and convert, or use \ on a Japanese layout

Two more tricks worth knowing.

The z key combinations in Microsoft IME give you arrows without leaving the keyboard: zh gives ←, zj gives ↓, zk gives ↑, and zl gives →.

And when a symbol has a name, you can usually just type the name and press the spacebar. Type kigou and convert to see a menu of general symbols. Type hoshi for ★ and ☆. Type sankaku for ▲ and △.

If you are typing Japanese to share with other learners and want reading aids on top, the furigana converter adds kana readings above the kanji in a passage.

Troubleshooting Common Setup Snags

Most problems have short answers.

The Japanese keyboard does not appear after installing it. Sign out and sign back in, or restart. The input method loads when your session starts, so it often will not show up until then.

Windows installed Japanese but there is no Microsoft IME. Go to Settings, Language & region, click the three dots next to Japanese, choose Language options, and add Microsoft IME under Keyboards. Adding the language and adding the keyboard are two separate things.

Everything types as English letters even though Japanese is selected. You are in alphanumeric mode. Look for the small A near your clock or in your menu bar and switch it to あ. On Windows, press Alt plus the grave accent key.

Windows key + Spacebar does nothing. You may only have one input method installed, so there is nothing to switch to. Check that a second language is listed.

Kanji conversion offers strange candidates. Try converting a longer phrase instead of one word at a time. Context helps the input method a great deal.

The IME works in some apps but not others. Some games and older programs handle input differently. Type your text in a note app and paste it in.

Everything is full width and looks too spaced out. You are in full width Latin mode. Press F10 to convert to half width, or switch modes from the input menu.

Japanese Typing Practice That Sticks

Setup takes five minutes. Speed takes a little longer, and the pleasant surprise is that typing practice is also reading practice.

Some ways to build the habit, and there is no single right way here either:

• Type words you already know. Start with ten words. Type each one, convert it, read it back. Five minutes.
• Retype real sentences. Copy a line from a textbook or a song and type it out. Notice which conversions the input method gets right without help.
• Write your own name and your friends’ names in katakana. It is small, personal, and you will use it on forms.
• Chat with yourself. Open a note app and write what you did today in three short sentences. Nobody has to read it.
• Say the sounds out loud as you type. Linking sound, romaji, and shape at the same moment makes each one easier to recall.

Here is the bridge worth noticing. Typing teaches you the sound to kana connection, because you type su and see す. But it does not test the kana to sound connection, because the screen shows you the answer. Reading practice fills that gap, and handwriting fills another one, since your hand learns the shape rather than the key.

The three support each other. When you can read すし on a menu without pausing, typing sushi feels automatic. When you have written 東 by hand, picking it out of a candidate list takes no thought at all. Our learn hub collects more free guides if you want to work on the reading side next.

How Kana Conbini Can Help You Recognize What You Type

Kana Conbini is one friendly option among many, and it is free to start.

• Conbini Run is a small roguelike game set in a convenience store, where you read hiragana, katakana, and kanji to serve customers. It practices the direction typing does not: seeing a character and knowing the sound.
• Write Kanji (書き取り) lets you trace all 46 hiragana, 46 katakana, and 2,126 kanji by hand in correct stroke order, with on-screen guides that fade as you improve. Useful for telling apart the pairs that look similar in a candidate list.
• Over 10,000 real vocabulary words across the full JLPT range, N5 to N1, all available now, with native Japanese voice on every word, so the words you type start sounding familiar too.
• Smart reviews bring each word back right before you would forget it, and visual mnemonics fade as you master them.
• Free to start, no subscription, on iPhone and Android. In the free tier, daily handwriting uses an energy meter that refills over time or with an ad, and a one-time pack makes it unlimited.

If you would rather stay on paper, the free printable Japanese writing practice sheets cover the same ground at no cost, and you can browse everything else from the home page.