So I'm curious as to how intuitive a Hiragana keyboard is. I find the IME perfectly fine for the most part, but I'm thinking if I plan on going to Japan in the future(which I do plan on doing after I graduate) then I'm thinking I should probably get used to typing with a Japanese keyboard. This is assuming that those keyboards are standard in Japan...(shows my knowledge on the subject).

So who has experience with one of those fancy keyboards, and would it be worth it to start trying to use one now?

Upon further research I see that direct kana input isn't widely used. Does that mean inside of Japan as well as outside?

I asked to have touch-typing support added to an online app that was made in Japan. They told me nobody uses that and they wouldn't put the time into it for something that wasn't used.

So no, don't bother. I had actually already learned to touch-type on a kana keyboard before that, and I haven't bothered to practice since.

No, as you say the direct kana-input layouts are not very popular (inside or outside Japan). The most common setup is actually something like this but it's impossible to find a supplier who will export to the rest of the world so we'll have to make do with the IME :-(

Hardly anyone uses direct-kana input, even native Japanese people. It's not worth learning to use one.

I've never seen a katakana-kanji keyboard here in japan. I work at a public school and every keyboard looks nearly identical to the ones we use in english speaking countries (the few differences are the convenient buttons that switch between katakana, hiragana, and romaji; the ' button and the @ button along with others that are just slightly annoying to find their new locations). If you go into any electronics store here you will also see the types of keyboards that you are used to (with the exception of those button and a few others that I've left out).

as pm215 said. the most common keyboard (my school is just underfunded) is the one he linked above.

The keyboard drum set is hilarious.

Alright well thanks for the responses I suppose I don't have to worry about it then.

arch9443 Wrote:So who has experience with one of those fancy keyboards, and would it be worth it to start trying to use one now?

I once bought a Japanese keyboard while on holiday in Japan and brought it back home so that I could learn to touch type using kana (I had previously tried writing the kana onto the keys of my UK keyboard but the characters rubbed off and my finger tips stained black!).

I could already touch type using a QWERTY keyboard so I learnt to touch type kana simply by making a table showing each kana with its corresponding western character or letter. See below (table lines disappeared when pasted here):

あ３ いＥ う４ え５ お６
かＴ きＧ くＨ け： こＢ
さＸ しＤ すＲ せＰ そＣ
だＱ ちA つＺ てＷ とＳ
なU にＩ ぬ１ ね ， のＫ
はＦ ひＶ ふ２ へ＾ ほ－
まＪ みＮ む］ め／ もＭ
や７ ゆ８ よ９
らＯ りＬ る ． れ； ろ￥
わ０ を０
んＹ ゛＠ ゜［

Every time I wanted to type a kana I would find it by referring to the table making sure I didn't look at the keyboard itself. Within a week or so I had pretty much got the hang of it. And I found that I didn't get muddled up much when switching between QWERTY and kana.

After that I discovered that Japanese people generally don't bother typing kana directly! And eventually I stopped doing it too. I concur with the other posters in saying that learning to type kana directly is not really necessary. The only advantage I can see is that you might be able to type slightly more efficiently and thus faster - if that is important. I don't know which method a Japanese secretary would employ. Even then, the saving in keystrokes is probably not that great. For example, あいうえお are one keystroke in both inputs. And although a character like は is one keystroke in kana input (versus two in QWERTY), ば still requires two (は＋゛).