Related articles * [Internationalization](/index.php/Internationalization "Internationalization") * [Input Japanese using uim](/index.php/Input_Japanese_using_uim "Input Japanese using uim") This article describes how to set up a Japanese language environment. It does not cover setting up Japanese input on the console. ## Contents * [1 Fonts](#Fonts) * [1.1 Sans-serif](#Sans-serif) * [1.2 Serif (and Sans-serif)](#Serif_.28and_Sans-serif.29) * [2 Locale](#Locale) * [3 Input methods](#Input_methods) * [3.1 Anthy](#Anthy) * [3.2 libkkc](#libkkc) * [3.3 Mozc](#Mozc) * [3.4 SKK](#SKK) * [3.5 Google CGI API for Japanese input](#Google_CGI_API_for_Japanese_input) * [4 See also](#See_also) ## Fonts *See also [Fonts#Japanese](/index.php/Fonts#Japanese "Fonts") and [Font configuration](/index.php/Font_configuration "Font configuration") for configuration or more detail.* To use any Japanese input method, you need to have Japanese fonts installed. Recommended Japanese fonts are as follows. #### Sans-serif * [adobe-source-han-sans](https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-han-sans) || [adobe-source-han-sans-jp-fonts](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=adobe-source-han-sans-jp-fonts) or [adobe-source-han-sans-otc-fonts](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=adobe-source-han-sans-otc-fonts) Open-source OTF fonts developed by Adobe. #### Serif (and Sans-serif) * [IPA fonts](http://ossipedia.ipa.go.jp/ipafont/) || [otf-ipafont](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=otf-ipafont) An open source OTF font set including sans-serif (Gothic) and serif (Mincho) glyphs provided by Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA). If you want to show [2channel Shift JIS art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2channel_Shift_JIS_art "wikipedia:2channel Shift JIS art") properly, use one of the following fonts: * ipamona font (AUR: [ttf-ipa-mona](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ttf-ipa-mona/)) * Mona font (AUR: [ttf-mona](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ttf-mona/)) * Monapo font (AUR: [ttf-monapo](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ttf-monapo/)) ## Locale *See [locale](/index.php/Locale "Locale") for details.* You should have `ja_JP.UTF-8` enabled in `/etc/locale.gen`. ## Input methods The following [input method](/index.php/Input_method "Input method") (IM) engines are available for Japanese: | Back-end | [Fcitx](/index.php/Fcitx "Fcitx") | [IBus](/index.php/IBus "IBus") | [SCIM](/index.php/SCIM "SCIM") | [uim](/index.php/Uim "Uim") | [gcin](/index.php/Gcin "Gcin") | [hime-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/hime-git/) | | [Anthy](#Anthy) | [fcitx-anthy](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=fcitx-anthy) | [ibus-anthy](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=ibus-anthy) | [scim-anthy](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=scim-anthy) | built-in | built-in | built-in | | [libkkc](#libkkc) | [fcitx-kkc](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=fcitx-kkc) | [ibus-kkc](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=ibus-kkc) | No | No | No | No | | [Mozc](/index.php/Mozc "Mozc") | [fcitx-mozc](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=fcitx-mozc) | [ibus-mozc](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ibus-mozc/) | No | [uim-mozc](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/uim-mozc/) | No | No | | [SKK](#SKK) | [fcitx-skk](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=fcitx-skk) | [ibus-skk](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=ibus-skk) | No | built-in | No | No | ### Anthy [Anthy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthy "wikipedia:Anthy") can convert Hiragana to Kanji. While Anthy is supported by all IM frameworks, it is effectively dead (its last release was 2009).[[1]](https://osdn.net/projects/anthy/) [Install](/index.php/Install "Install") [anthy](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=anthy) and the engine for your framework. ### libkkc [libkkc](https://bitbucket.org/libkkc/) ([libkkc](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=libkkc)) provides a converter from Japanese Kana-string to Kana-Kanji-mixed-string. It was named after kkc.el in GNU Emacs, a simple Kana Kanji converter, while libkkc tries to convert sentences in a bit more complex way using N-gram language models. It is developed by a Red Hat engineer. [Install](/index.php/Install "Install") the engine for your framework. ### Mozc [Mozc](/index.php/Mozc "Mozc") is a Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) designed for multi-platform such as Chromium OS, Windows, Mac and Linux which originates from [Google Japanese Input](http://www.google.com/intl/ja/ime/). Custom package [mozc-ut2](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mozc-ut2/) comes with [Mozc UT dictionary](http://www.geocities.jp/ep3797/mozc_01.html). The dictionary adds over 350,000 words into original. See the article for the installation procedure. ### SKK [SKK](http://openlab.jp/skk/index.html) (Simple Kana to Kanji conversion program) is a Japanese input method on Emacs. It was designed by Dr. Masahiko Sato (Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University) (old link) and created in 1987\. A unique feature of SKK is that it converts words one by one (single-word conversion), without analyzing syntax or grammar. [Install](/index.php/Install "Install") the SKK dictionaries ([skk-jisyo](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=skk-jisyo)) and the engine for your framework. ### Google CGI API for Japanese input *Available IM frameworks: uim* [Google CGI API for Japanese Input](http://www.google.co.jp/ime/cgiapi.html) (Google-CGIAPI-Jp) is CGI service to provide Japanese conversion on the Internet by Google. It can be used on [web browser](http://www.google.com/transliterate). Its conversion engine seems to be equivalent to Google Japanese Input, so conversion quality is probably better than Mozc. **Note:** This service sends/receives preedits and candidates as plain text (as of 2012-09). You can use it via uim. Choose "Google-CGIAPI-Jp" on uim-im-switcher-gtk/gtk3/qt4 or uim-pref-gtk/gtk3/qt4. ## See also * [Gentoo:How to read and write in Japanese](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/How_to_read_and_write_in_Japanese "gentoo:How to read and write in Japanese")