HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

Before you start, turn on your Japanese keyboard. If you don't have a Japanese keyboard or don't know how to get one on
your device, follow our step-by-step IME installation instructions before proceeding.

Below are tables. These tables display Japanese keyboard characters and the inputs you type to make them appear. For
example, to produce あ you type a. In the table below, notice the letter a is below あ. The roman letter or combination of
letters you need to type to display a given character are displayed below that character.

Again, this is where romaji will be helpful. If you know how a Japanese word is spelled in romaji, you can type it on your
Japanese keyboard.

HIRAGANA

あ い う え お
a i u e o

か き く け こ
ka ki ku ke ko

さ し す せ そ
sa si / shi su se so

た ち つ て と
ta ti / chi tu / tsu te to

な に ぬ ね の
na ni nu ne no

は ひ ふ へ ほ
ha hi hu / fu he ho
 ま み む め も
ma mi mu me mo

や ゆ よ
ya yu yo

ら り る れ ろ
ra ri ru re ro

わ を
wa wo

ん
nn
Notice that typing ん requires you to type nn. When you hit n, you have the chance you to hit a,i,u,e, or o to make な,に,ぬ,
ね, or の. So you need that extra n to tell the keyboard, "Yes, I'm trying to type ん." It will mean the difference between:

おな おんあ おんな
ona onna onnna
Also, notice when you type the particle は in a sentence, you type ha even though it's pronounced wa.

DAKUTEN

が ぎ ぐ げ ご
ga gi gu ge go

ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ
za zi / ji zu ze zo
 だ ぢ づ で ど
da di du de do

ば び ぶ べ ぼ
ba bi bu be bo

ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ
pa pi pu pe po

CONTRACTIONS

きゃ きゅ きょ
kya kyu kyo

しゃ しゅ しょ
sha shu sho

ちゃ ちゅ ちょ
cha chu cho

にゃ にゅ にょ
nya nyu nyo

ひゃ ひゅ ひょ
hya hyu hyo

みゃ みゅ みょ
mya myu myo

りゃ りゅ りょ
 rya ryu ryo

DAKUTEN CONTRACTIONS

ぎゃ ぎゅ ぎょ
gya gyu gyo

じゃ じゅ じょ
jya / ja jyu / ju jyo / jo

びゃ びゅ びょ
bya byu byo

ぴゃ ぴゅ ぴょ
pya pyu pyo

LONG CONTRACTIONS

きゅう きょう
kyuu kyou

しゅう しょう
shuu shou

ちゅう ちょう
chuu chou

にゅう にょう
nyuu nyou
 ひゅう ひょう
hyuu hyou

みゅう みょう
myuu myou

りゅう りょう
ryuu ryou

DAKUTEN LONG CONTRACTIONS

ぎゅう ぎょう
gyuu gyou

じゅう じょう
juu / jyuu jou / jyou

びゅう びょう
byuu byou

ぴゅう ぴょう
pyuu pyou

KATAKANA
To switch from hiragana to katakana, usually all you have to do is hit the spacebar after you've typed the word in hiragana.
If you spelled the word correctly, your IME will almost always recommend the word in katakana. If it doesn't, you may
need to double check how it's officially spelled with an online dictionary like Jisho.
ア イ ウ エ オ
a i u e o

カ キ ク ケ コ
ka ki ku ke ko

サ シ ス セ ソ
sa si / shi su se so

タ チ ツ テ ト
ta ti / chi tu / tsu te to

ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ
na ni nu ne no

ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ
ha hi hu / fu he ho

マ ミ ム メ モ
ma mi mu me mo

ヤ ユ ヨ
ya yu yo

ラ リ ル レ ロ
ra ri ru re ro

ワ ヲ
wa wo

ン
 nn

KATAKANA DAKUTEN

ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ
ga gi gu ge go

ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ
za zi / ji zu ze zo

ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド
da di du de do

バ ビ ブ ベ ボ
ba bi bu be bo

パ ピ プ ペ ポ
pa pi pu pe po

KATAKANA CONTRACTIONS

キャ キュ キョ
kya kyu kyo

シャ シュ ショ
sha shu sho

チャ チュ チョ
cha chu cho
 ニャ ニュ ニョ
nya nyu nyo

ヒャ ヒュ ヒョ
hya hyu hyo

ミャ ミュ ミョ
mya myu myo

リャ リュ リょ
rya ryu ryo

KATAKANA DAKUTEN CONTRACTIONS

ギャ ギュ ギョ
gya gyu gyo

ジャ ジュ ジョ
jya / ja jyu / ju jyo / jo

ビャ ビュ ビョ
bya byu byo

ピャ ピュ ピョ
pya pyu pyo

KATAKANA LONG CONTRACTIONS

キュウ キョウ
 kyuu kyou

シュウ ショウ
shuu shou

チュウ チョウ
chuu chou

ニュウ ニョウ
nyuu nyou

ヒュウ ヒョウ
hyuu hyou

ミュウ ミョウ
myuu myou

リュウ リょウ
ryuu ryou

KATAKANA DAKUTEN LONG CONTRACTIONS

ギュウ ギョウ
gyuu gyou

ジュウ ジョウ
juu / jyuu jou / jyou

ビュウ ビョウ
byuu byou
 ピュウ ピョウ
pyuu pyou
Those are the basics, but there are a lot of other characters and symbols you should know how to type. Let's take a look at a
few!

HALF-SIZED CHARACTERS
You'll see a lot of half sized characters in casual Japanese. If you follow Japanese users on Twitter, Facebook, LINE, or
other SNS sites, you've probably seen these chibi kana mixed in. But sometimes they're in weird spots, like this: あれぇ ねぇ
ちっちぇ.

Here's how to type small Japanese characters in your social media messages:

ぁ ぃ ぅ ぇ ぉ
la / xa li / xi lu / xu le / xe lo / xo
Thanks to the prevalence of foreign words that have been borrowed into Japanese, not to mention foreign names, there
are some unusual kana combinations that exist. Here's how to type those uncommon combos:

ファ フィ フュ フェ フォ
fa fi fyu fe fo

ウィ ウェ ウォ
wi we who

ヴァ ヴィ ヴェ ヴォ
va vi ve vo

ツァ ツィ ツェ ツォ
 tsa tsi tse tso

チェ シェ ジェ
che she je

ティ ディ デュ トゥ
texi dexi dexyu toxu

SMALL TSU
To get the small tsu, you don't have to type ltu or xtsu or any of those other combinations. Think about what っ means in
Japanese. It's there to mark a geminate consonant. And you spell that in romaji with two of that consonant in a row. So
type the Japanese word in romaji using a double consonant. Your Japanese keyboard will know what to do and generate
a っ in the proper place.

やった きっと みっつ りっぱ まっちゃ

CONVERT TO KANJI
Now that you know how to type in hiragana and katakana, you can start converting some of it to nice, fancy kanji. How?
By using the spacebar, just like you did with katakana words.

Let's use this sentence as an example:

 私の名前はクリステンです。
 My name is Kristen.

But what I'm actually typing (and seeing) is this:

Once you have that typed out, hit the spacebar. It will give you a dropdown box with conversion options. Scroll through
and choose the one you want.

If what you're typing is simple enough, it might just suggest exactly what you're looking for. If that's the case,
hit enter (also known at the return key) and you can go on typing.

If only part of the sentence is what you're trying to type, you can fix it without having to retype the sentence one word at a
time. Use the arrow keys to select the part of the sentence you want to change.

Hit spacebar again until you get find the option you're looking for.

Wait! Did you scroll through a ton of kanji and now can't find the original kana you started with? Just hit the escape key
once and it will revert back to the kana. (Just once though, otherwise it will delete what you wrote.)
This process takes some getting used to, but with practice, you'll be hitting space and enter to toggle through your options
and type Japanese kanji without even thinking about it.