You do not need a Japanese keyboard. Add the Japanese input method on your device, type the reading in romaji, and it converts to kana as you go — then press space to turn that kana into kanji and pick from the candidate list. Two rules cover most early confusion: type nn for ん, and type the particles は, を, へ by their spelling (ha, wo, he), not their sound.
At some point in week two you will want to type Japanese — to search a word, to message someone, to look something up properly instead of copy-pasting from a translation app. It takes about ninety seconds to set up and almost nobody explains the one part that actually confuses people, which is what happens after you type.
The Idea: You Type Romaji, the Phone Writes Japanese
You do not need a keyboard covered in Japanese characters. Every Japanese input method (an IME) works by converting the Latin letters you type into kana, then offering kanji candidates.
You type n-i-h-o-n-g-o → the IME shows にほんご → you press space → it offers 日本語, 日本後, にほんご → you pick one.
This is why romaji remains useful forever even though you should stop reading in it. Typing romaji is a mechanical skill; reading romaji is a crutch.
iPhone and iPad
- Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard…
- Choose Japanese. You will be offered two layouts — turn on both:
- Romaji — a QWERTY keyboard that converts as you type. Start here.
- Kana — the 12-key flick layout Japanese people actually use.
- To switch keyboards, tap the globe icon (🌐) next to the space bar.
The flick keyboard is worth learning once you are comfortable. Each key is a kana row: hold あ and flick up for う, right for い, down for お, left for え. It looks alien for about a day and is then dramatically faster than romaji on a phone, because most syllables are one flick instead of two taps.
Android
- Settings → System → Languages & input → On-screen keyboard → Gboard → Languages → Add keyboard.
- Pick Japanese, then choose the QWERTY layout (romaji input) and/or the 12 keys flick layout.
- Switch with the globe key.
Google Japanese Input exists as a separate app, but modern Gboard handles Japanese well enough that most people never need it.
Mac
- System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit… → +
- Add Japanese → Romaji.
- Switch input sources with Ctrl + Space, or click the flag in the menu bar.
On a Mac, the かな and 英数 keys beside the space bar on a Japanese keyboard switch modes directly. On a non-Japanese keyboard, Ctrl+Space is your switch.
Windows
- Settings → Time & language → Language & region → Add a language → Japanese.
- After it installs, an A or あ indicator appears in the taskbar.
- Press Alt + Shift to switch languages, then Alt + ` (the key above Tab) to toggle between direct English (A) and Japanese input (あ).
The Part Nobody Explains: Converting
Setting up the keyboard is the easy half. Here is what the keys actually do once you are typing.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Space | Convert the kana you just typed into kanji. Press again to cycle through other candidates. |
| Enter | Accept the current candidate and commit it. |
| Esc (desktop) | Cancel the conversion and go back to plain kana. |
| F7 (Windows) | Force the text into katakana. The single most useful key nobody knows. |
| F6 / F8 (Windows) | Force hiragana / half-width katakana. |
| Arrow keys | Resize the conversion chunk when the IME split your sentence in the wrong place. |
That last one matters more than it sounds. Japanese has no spaces, so the IME has to guess where words end. Type きょうはいしゃにいく and it may offer 今日は医者に行く or 今日歯医者に行く — “I’m going to the doctor today” versus “I’m going to the dentist today.” Widening or narrowing the chunk with the arrow keys is how you fix it.
Spelling Rules That Trip People Up
| To get | Type | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ん | nn or n' | A single n before a vowel becomes な-row. こんにちは is konnnichiha or kon'nichiha. |
| っ (small tsu) | double the consonant | きって = kitte. It happens automatically. |
| ゃゅょ (small) | x or l prefix | xya → ゃ. Usually unnecessary — kya already gives きゃ. |
| は as particle | ha | Pronounced wa, typed ha. Same for を = wo and へ = he. |
| ー (long vowel mark) | - (hyphen) | Katakana only: コーヒー = ko-hi-. |
| ふ | hu or fu | Both work. Same for し = si/shi, ち = ti/chi. |
The は/を/へ rule is the one that catches everyone: those three are pronounced wa, o and e as particles but typed by their original spelling. If you are unclear on why, that is the particle guide.
Free tool
Drill hiragana and katakana right here in your browser — all 46 base characters plus dakuten and combination kana, in either direction, with the full charts underneath. No signup.
Open the free kana quizTyping Is a Reading Test in Disguise
Here is the part worth knowing before you start: typing Japanese will expose exactly which kanji you cannot recognize. The IME hands you four candidates and you have to pick the right one. Guess wrong and you have written the wrong word.
Type きこう and you get 気候 (climate), 機構 (organisation), 寄稿 (contribution), 帰港 (returning to port) and more. There is no way to choose without knowing the characters. This is genuinely useful practice — it drills recognition under pressure — but it is also why typing feels disproportionately hard early on. It is not you; you are being asked to do reading, not writing.
If you keep hitting words where you cannot tell the candidates apart, that is a signal to build vocabulary rather than to type more. Kanjijo teaches each kanji inside the words it actually appears in, which is exactly the knowledge the candidate list is testing.
A Faster Route on Your Phone: Skip Typing Entirely
Half the reason beginners want to type Japanese is to look something up — a word on a menu, a sign, a page of manga. Typing an unfamiliar kanji you cannot read is close to impossible, since you would need to know its reading first.
Kanjijo’s OCR camera scanner removes that loop: point the camera at the text, and it reads the Japanese, splits it into words, and turns them into study cards. For anything printed, it is faster than typing and it works on characters you have never seen.
What You Actually Get Inside Kanjijo
Kanjijo is one app that covers every part of Japanese, so you are not stitching together five tools. Here is the full list, as of 2026:
Everything in one app · free to start
- Complete kanji, vocabulary and grammar for all five JLPT levels — N5 through N1, in a fixed order with no gaps.
- Exclusive mnemonics written by hand for every kanji and every vocabulary word — not auto-generated, not borrowed from a public deck.
- SRS reviews that schedule each item right before you would forget it, so 10–15 minutes a day is enough.
- OCR camera scanner — point your phone at a menu, sign, manga panel or receipt and Kanjijo reads the Japanese and turns the words into cards.
- Lock screen widget — a new kanji or word every time you pick up your phone.
- Home screen widget — today’s review count and study item, visible without opening anything.
- Interactive test widget — answer a real question straight from the home screen, no app launch needed.
- JLPT reading practice — graded passages with the exact question types the real exam uses.
- JLPT listening practice — native audio exercises per level, including the trap-heavy formats.
- Full JLPT mock exams — timed, section-scored, so you know your weak section before test day.
- Conversation lessons — natural dialogues with every grammar point actually used in context, not bolted on.
- Shadowing — speak along with native audio and hear yourself against the model.
- Dictation — listen to real everyday Japanese and rebuild the sentence word by word.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I type Japanese on my iPhone?
Go to Settings, then General, then Keyboard, then Keyboards, then Add New Keyboard, and choose Japanese. Enable both the Romaji layout, which converts Latin letters as you type, and the Kana flick layout used by native speakers. Switch between keyboards with the globe icon next to the space bar.
Do I need a Japanese keyboard to type Japanese?
No. Japanese input methods convert the Latin letters you already type into kana and then offer kanji candidates. Type nihongo, press space, and pick 日本語 from the list. A physical Japanese keyboard adds dedicated conversion keys but changes nothing essential.
How do I type ん in Japanese?
Type nn, or n followed by an apostrophe. A single n before a vowel is read as the な row instead, so konnichiha needs a double n to produce こんにちは rather than こにちは.
How do I convert hiragana to kanji?
Type the reading in kana, then press the space bar. The IME offers its best guess first, and pressing space again cycles through the other candidates. Press Enter to accept. On Windows, F7 forces the text into katakana instead.
Why does my Japanese keyboard pick the wrong kanji?
Japanese is written without spaces, so the IME has to guess where each word ends, and homophones are extremely common. Use the left and right arrow keys to resize the conversion chunk, then space to re-cycle the candidates. Picking correctly requires recognizing the kanji, which is why typing doubles as a reading test.
Free on iPhone and iPad. One Premium account also unlocks Hanzijo (Chinese) and Hanguljo (Korean).