If you have a Windows PC at home, typing in Japanese is super easy. Just follow these quick steps and you’ll go from “watashi” to 「私」 in no time!
Click on the Start Menu in the bottom left of the screen and select the Control Panel.
Under the “Clock, Language, and Region” category, click on “Change keyboards or other input methods.”
A new window will pop up. In that window, under the “Keyboards and Languages” tab, click the button that says “Change keyboards.”
Another window should pop up. In that new window, under the “General” tab, click “Add…” to add a new language.
A new window will appear that ha a long list of languages. Scroll down to Japanese, click on the plus sign next to it to expand the menu, and click the checkbox that says “Microsoft IME.”
Hit the “OK” button on all open windows to close them. A new button should appear in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen that lets you switch between languages. Select Japanese.
Next to that button there should now be a giant letter “A.” Click on that letter A and select the Hiragana option.
Once you’ve selected Hiragana, you should be all set to go! Just start typing a word in Japanese like watashi and it will turn into わたし automatically. Hit the spacebar to cycle between different kana and hit the enter button to finalize your choice.
