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I want to make the Japanese keyboard the default keyboard without changing the actual computer language. The Japanese keyboard can type in English anyway and it gets annoying changing the keyboard every five minutes. I try to make the Japanese keyboard the default one but it changes the computer language.

Thanks for your help.

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  • 5
    I think this type of question should be asked on our sister site superuser.com (or possibly askubuntu.com or unix.stackexchange.com). There were four votes to migrate it to meta, but I think you'd have better luck asking at a site that allows questions about operating systems.
    – Earthliŋ Mod
    Commented May 24, 2017 at 21:08

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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Windows 10 setup

This is a walkthrough of the UI using a corporate installation of Windows 10. It is possible that this might differ for someone using a consumer version -- on Windows XP, for instance, the language resources were not included in the default install, and required a separate installation disk or downloading first.

  1. Click Start and type Language. Select Language Settings.
    enter image description here
  2. Under Preferred languages, click Add a language.
    enter image description here
  3. For Choose a language to install, type japanese to shorten the list, select Japanese, and click Next.
    enter image description here
  4. For Install language features, the Preferred language will show only 日本語, so leave that as-is. Make sure to U̲N̲C̲H̲E̲C̲K̲ the boxes for Install language pack (this installs all the language resources to display Japanese UI, which uses up a chunk of drive space and which you don't need), and for Set as my Windows display language (since you want to keep English for your UI display). Then click Install.
    enter image description here
  5. You should be back at the Language settings dialog. Make sure that the Windows display language is still set to your preferred flavor of English. Also make sure that Japanese is shown in the list under Preferred languages, and that Japanese appears u̲n̲d̲e̲r̲ your preferred variety of English.
    enter image description here
  6. The input language defaults to ENG. Now click Keyboard to change this to the Japanese IME. enter image description here
  7. Under Override for default input method, open the drop-down and select Japanese - Microsoft IME.
    enter image description here
  8. Under Switching input methods, you should probably leave these unchecked, unless you have other IMEs installed (perhaps different Japanese IMEs, or even IMEs for other languages like Korean or Chinese).
    enter image description here
  9. Optionally, click the blue Language bar options or Input language hot keys to configure those options as well.
  10. Check the systray. You should see the Japanese IME icons just to the left of the clock.
    enter image description here
    The A shows that the IME is in "Alphabet" mode. The square with the circle and the J inside it shows that the Windows keyboard language is set to "Japanese".

You should be done. As with anything Windows, you might need to reboot to make sure that the new settings stick.

When in a text field, use either of these key combinations to toggle between "Alphabet" mode (for English) and "Romaji Input + Conversion" mode (for Japanese):

  • Left ALT + ` (backtick, the key on the upper left below Esc)
  • Left SHIFT + CAPSLOCK

ハッピー・タイピング！

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If you're using windows PC, try to change registry value. See the web site below. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/927824/windows-may-not-use-the-correct-keyboard-layout-when-you-connect-a-usb-keyboard-to-the-computer

If your PC is mac, I'm not sure,but see here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202038

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More than keyboard layout, what you're looking for is input method.

Apple:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22653?locale=en_US

MSWindows:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee418266(v=vs.85).aspx

but that's about MSWinxp.

If you're on a Linux, look for a package with mozc or uim.

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  • Just a comment on this: Japanese IME is indispensable as an input method, but you do have to click into the language bar each time you open it after booting. Even though the default input may be set at Hiragana, it seems to be a bug whereby when you first open it, it never goes straight to Hiragana. Just a minor thing, but it is one difference between having a default keyboard and using an input method.
    – kandyman
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 11:59
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    @kandyman just press Alt+~ to switch to kana mode
    – Igor Skochinsky
    Commented May 6, 2019 at 21:23
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    @kandyman: on Windows 10 (and I think all the way back to XP), Shift+Caps also toggles the IME mode between the Latin alphabet and kana / kanji.
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    Commented May 6, 2019 at 23:16
  • @kandyman: on Windows 10, toggle from another language to Japanese by pressing WindowsKey + Space, and then toggle to hiragana pressing Shift+Caps. When you get uesd to both shortcuts, it's quick.
    – jarmanso7
    Commented Sep 20, 2019 at 5:51

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