Click virtual keys for hiragana, Shift for variants.
3. Find the kanji
Send the word to Jisho from the resource hub in one click.
Frequently asked questions
At a glance: Japanese Keyboard
Keyboard: Japanese Keyboard (にほんごキーボード / 日本語キーボード), Kana script, Japan.
Direction left to right; 45 keys and 90 characters across all layers.
Engine: 212 transliteration rules — the examples below come straight from it.
This guide: 3 method steps and 2 answered questions.
Typefaces: Noto Sans JP, Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN, Yu Gothic.
Search and export: Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Translate, DuckDuckGo.
Common mistakes to avoid
Nine times out of ten, a Japanese Keyboard problem is one of these — each takes five seconds to fix. Work through them in order before assuming the keyboard is broken.
Nothing converts, not even « a » → « あ »: check that Transliteration mode (not the physical keyboard) is on, and that you type plain lowercase Latin letters.
Missing accents: click the exact accented key rather than the base letter — “e” and “é” are two different keys.
Unexpected layout: the Hiragana variant changes the keys — switch back to the standard variant if anything surprises you.
Clusters split after paste (Arabic, Indic and Southeast Asian scripts): paste into this editor first and re-copy — it normalizes the Unicode shaping that Word and chats sometimes break.
Try these conversions now
Copy each left-hand transcription into the keyboard linked above and confirm the script on the right. Six quick wins that calibrate your fingers to the engine.
Type “a” → get あ.
Type “i” → get い.
Type “u” → get う.
Type “e” → get え.
Type “o” → get お.
Type “ka” → get か.
The exact rules behind the examples
The walkthrough above uses a handful of conversions. Here is the complete engine behind this guide — all 212 mappings of the Japanese Keyboard, longest match first. Find the transcription you need, then try it live in the keyboard linked at the top of this page.
You type
You get
a
あ
i
い
u
う
e
え
o
お
ka
か
ki
き
ku
く
ke
け
ko
こ
sa
さ
shi
し
su
す
se
せ
so
そ
ta
た
chi
ち
tsu
つ
te
て
to
と
na
な
ni
に
nu
ぬ
ne
ね
no
の
ha
は
hi
ひ
fu
ふ
he
へ
ho
ほ
ma
ま
mi
み
mu
む
me
め
mo
も
ya
や
yu
ゆ
yo
よ
ra
ら
ri
り
ru
る
re
れ
ro
ろ
wa
わ
wo
を
n
ん
ga
が
gi
ぎ
gu
ぐ
ge
げ
go
ご
za
ざ
ji
じ
zu
ず
ze
ぜ
zo
ぞ
da
だ
de
で
do
ど
ba
ば
bi
び
bu
ぶ
be
べ
bo
ぼ
pa
ぱ
pi
ぴ
pu
ぷ
pe
ぺ
po
ぽ
kya
きゃ
kyu
きゅ
kyo
きょ
sha
しゃ
shu
しゅ
sho
しょ
cha
ちゃ
chu
ちゅ
cho
ちょ
nya
にゃ
nyu
にゅ
nyo
にょ
hya
ひゃ
hyu
ひゅ
hyo
ひょ
rya
りゃ
ryu
りゅ
ryo
りょ
gya
ぎゃ
gyu
ぎゅ
gyo
ぎょ
ja
じゃ
ju
じゅ
jo
じょ
bya
びゃ
byu
びゅ
byo
びょ
pya
ぴゃ
pyu
ぴゅ
pyo
ぴょ
A
ア
I
イ
U
ウ
E
エ
O
オ
KA
カ
KI
キ
KU
ク
KE
ケ
KO
コ
SA
サ
SHI
シ
SU
ス
SE
セ
SO
ソ
TA
タ
CHI
チ
TSU
ツ
TE
テ
TO
ト
NA
ナ
NI
ニ
NU
ヌ
NE
ネ
NO
ノ
HA
ハ
HI
ヒ
FU
フ
HE
ヘ
HO
ホ
MA
マ
MI
ミ
MU
ム
ME
メ
MO
モ
YA
ヤ
YU
ユ
YO
ヨ
RA
ラ
RI
リ
RU
ル
RE
レ
RO
ロ
WA
ワ
WO
ヲ
N
ン
GA
ガ
GI
ギ
GU
グ
GE
ゲ
GO
ゴ
ZA
ザ
JI
ジ
ZU
ズ
ZE
ゼ
ZO
ゾ
DA
ダ
DE
デ
DO
ド
BA
バ
BI
ビ
BU
ブ
BE
ベ
BO
ボ
PA
パ
PI
ピ
PU
プ
PE
ペ
PO
ポ
KYA
キャ
KYU
キュ
KYO
キョ
SHA
シャ
SHU
シュ
SHO
ショ
CHA
チャ
CHU
チュ
CHO
チョ
NYA
ニャ
NYU
ニュ
NYO
ニョ
HYA
ヒャ
HYU
ヒュ
HYO
ヒョ
RYA
リャ
RYU
リュ
RYO
リョ
GYA
ギャ
GYU
ギュ
GYO
ギョ
JA
ジャ
JU
ジュ
JO
ジョ
BYA
ビャ
BYU
ビュ
BYO
ビョ
PYA
ピャ
PYU
ピュ
PYO
ピョ
kka
っかa
kki
っかi
kku
っかu
kke
っかe
kko
っかo
tta
ったa
tti
ったi
ttu
ったu
tte
ったe
tto
ったo
ssa
っさa
ssu
っさu
sse
っさe
sso
っさo
More questions about this keyboard
Do you support katakana? — Hiragana is the default; the Jisho dictionary link helps find katakana readings.
Hiragana or katakana? — Hiragana for native Japanese words, katakana for foreign loanwords.
Do long vowels (ō, ū) work? — Yes: “toukyou” or “tōkyō” both produce とうきょう.
How do I get kanji? — Type the romaji, get the kana, then use the Jisho link in the dictionary hub to find the kanji.
Neighbouring keyboards
The same method often applies to neighbouring languages. Each of these has its own full keyboard page with virtual keys, engine and dictionaries.
Chinese Pinyin Keyboard: Type Chinese: enter pinyin and pick the character, or click the virtual keys. Simplified and traditional characters supported.…
Korean Hangul Keyboard: Type Korean Hangul with smart jamo composition: “annyeong” becomes 안녕 automatically as you type.…
Vietnamese Keyboard: Type Vietnamese with Telex, VNI and plain modes: “xin chào” is produced from “xin chao” + s as you type.…
All method guides
Twelve guides cover the most requested scripts. Pick yours — every guide embeds its keyboard, so you can practise each step immediately.
Type Arabic without an Arabic keyboard: complete guide: Type “marhaba” and get مرحبا: transliteration, harakat, copy-paste and virtual keyboard.…
Type Russian on a French/English keyboard: easy method: “privet” becomes привет: JCUKEN transliteration, Ё key and Russian physical layout.…
Type Hebrew with vowels (niqqud) online: “shalom” → שלום, Shift layer for vowels: Hebrew RTL keyboard guide.…
Type Chinese with pinyin: how-to: Type “ni hao” and pick 你好: tones, simplified/traditional and pinyin keyboard.…
Type Korean (Hangul): automatic composition: “annyeong” → 안녕: jamos combine into syllables in real time.…
Type Hindi (Devanagari): transliteration guide: “namaste” → नमस्ते: matras, conjuncts and Devanagari keyboard.…
Type Vietnamese: Telex, VNI and tones: “xin chao” + s → xin chào: Telex, VNI modes and Vietnamese keyboard.…
Type Greek: modern and polytonic: “kalimera” → καλημέρα: transliteration, tonos and Greek keyboard.…
Spanish, German, Italian accents without a local keyboard: “como estas” → ¿Cómo estás?, “gruesse” → grüße: accent autocorrection.…
Arabic, Persian, Urdu: which keyboard to choose?: Same script family, 3 languages: letter differences (پ چ ژ گ), digits and usage.…
Online dictionaries by language: the Lexilogos-like hub: Each keyboard embeds its hub: monolingual, bilingual, grammar, press and resources.…