I clicked on "Download and install language pack" for Japanese and I clicked ok on 'would you like to allow make changes' or something like that but nothing happens.

I want to view the computer completely in Japanese. For example when even right clicking.

Also when you use the Japanese keyboard layout, what is the shortkey to move from the default romaji to hiragana?

First of all, what operating system are you using?
This might help if it is Windows:
http://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/Switch_Wi...o_Japanese

Also, this might be useful: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~introjpn/00_windowsxp.html
It's for xp, but the process hasn't changed much.

Windows doesn't let you change the interface language; they treat each translation as separate products, unless you're using Ultimate (which is what it says in that first site Bokusenou posted).

You can configure the keyboard shortcut to switch input methods, but I think the default is Left Alt + Shift.

Edit: Just for the sake of any Mac users viewing the thread, you can set the language in System Preferences -> Language and Text. Drag 日本語 (or whatever) up to the top then log out and back in.

Khakionion Wrote:Windows doesn't let you change the interface language; they treat each translation as separate products, unless you're using Ultimate

Or any edition Windows 8 other than Windows 8 Single Language.

I'm using Windows 8. I meant that when I change into Japanese, the default is imputing as romaji, not hiragana. Is there a way to change between hiragana and romaji without having to click on it with the mouse?

Try Alt + ~ to switch input mode bw hiragana and 1/2 alpha. That works on Win7.
(I find it simplest to leave it on Jpn language and use Alt ~ when I want to use English.)

The following don't work for me on Win7, but maybe something similar works in Win8?

There's a setting to change the default input mode to hiragana, but it doesn't do anything. (I've tried it with default language set to Jpn and Eng.)

There's also a setting to use Shift to switch between hiragana and 1/2 alpha, but it also doesn't work. It only switches to full alpha (or does nothing if you have alpha numeric set to always be 1/2 alpha.)

By "Japanese keyboard", did you mean that your input method is set to kana (each key is a kana rather then a letter)? Alt ~ works for Japanese keyboard too.

Actually to toggle between ENG and J IME keyboards, you press the Windows icon + SPACEBAR for Win8.

I have Win8 and that's what I do to quickly toggle between the 2 language keyboards

RawrPk Wrote:Actually to toggle between ENG and J IME keyboards, you press the Windows icon + SPACEBAR for Win8.

I have Win8 and that's what I do to quickly toggle between the 2 language keyboards

Doesn't quite work for me: if "Control Panel->Language->Advanced Settings->Let me set a different input method for each app window" is checked, the IME defaults to direct input. The real WTF is that "IME options->Advanced->Don't use direct input mode" does nothing.

Here's an autohotkey script to launch a program in hiragana input mode:

Code:

#NoEnv
SendMode Input
Run %1%
WinWaitActive, ahk_exe %1%
SendMessage, 0x50, 0, 0x0411 ; ja-jp keyboard
Send, ^{Capslock} ; Control+Capslock = shortcut for Hiragana input
Exit

Example usage: copy/paste to notepad, save as C:\hiragana.ahk, create a shortcut, right-click->properties->target=C:\hiragana.ahk C:\Program Files\EBWin4\EBWin4.exe
(download and install AutoHotkey first if you don't already have it)

Only tested on Windows 8. Should also work on Windows 7. May or may not work on earlier versions of Windows.