Japanese text input on Windows XP

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to set up and use Japanese text input on Windows:

Setup

• Go to "Start" → "Control Panel" → "Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options" → "Add other languages"
• check "Install files for East Asian languages"
• click "OK"
• you will be asked to insert the Windows XP installation disc; do so and click "OK"
• Accept when you are asked to restart your computer
• After the reboot, go to "Start" → "Control Panel" → "Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options" → "Add other languages" again
• click"Details...", then "Add..."
• in the drop-down menu choose "Japanese" and click "OK"
• Click "OK" again
• Click on the language button, which is normally near the taskbar
• choose "Japanese" (note that this changes your keyboard layout; if you use a German keyboard, for instance, z and y will switch places)
• right-click on the language button and choose "Restore the language bar"
• On the language bar, click "Preferences"
• Change "Default Input Mode" to "Hirgana"
• Click "OK"
• (you can minimise the language bar now, if you want to)

Usage

• use the language bar/button to switch to Japanese or press the Left Alt Key + Shift to cycle through your input languages
  (if you use more than two languages, you might want to assign key combinations to jump to specific languages; you can do so by right-clicking the language bar, choosing "Settings" and then "Key Settings…")
• type the Japanese text as you would in romaji, paying attention to some special sequences (s. examples below)
• after a word, press the space bar to to go through the possible kanji and Enter to accept (you can also do this after typing the whole sentence, moving between the words with the arrow keys)
• to convert a word you just typed to katakana, press F7; to convert it back to hiragana, press F6
• some examples:
  • for たなか type tanaka
  • し can be typed as shi or si, つ as tsu or tu
  • for ん type nn
    • for こんにちは type konnnichiha (konnichiha would produce こんいちは)
    • for きんようび type kinnyoubi (kinyoubi would produce きにょうび)
  • ti will produce ち; for てぃ type texi or teli
    • for パーティー　type pa-texi- or pa-teli-