The latest release of Ubuntu, 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx, makes a lot of things easy in Linux. And setting up Ubuntu with a Japanese IME to type in Japanese is as easy as ever. Whether you are a student of Japanese or a native Japanese speaker, you will need to set up Ubuntu to type in Japanese if you are not on a Japanese system.

This simple tutorial will get you set up with a Japanese input method in as few steps as possible.

To start, select from the top panel System → Administration → Language Support

In the Language and Text screen, press the Install / Remove Languages… button.

In the Installed Languages screen, scroll down to Japanese and check Input methods and Extra fonts, and press Apply Changes.

You will be prompted for your administration password.

The necessary packages will start downloading.

The downloaded packages will be installed automatically.

A dialog box confirming the Japanese language packages have been installed will be displayed.

After everything is installed, the next step is the set up the keyboard input method editor.

Select from the top panel System → Administration → Language Support

In the Language and Text screen, click on the Keyboard method input system dropdown and select ibus.

Next, set up ibus by selecting from the top panel System → Administration → IBus Preferences

You may get the following dialog box saying IBus is not started. Press Yes to start it.

You may also get a dialog box with the following message. Just press OK.

On the IBus Preferences screen, go to the Input Method tab.

Press the Select an input method dropdown and select Japanese → Anthy.

Press Add on the IBus Preferences screen to add the Anthy Japanese input method.

You should now have a little keyboard icon displayed somewhere on the right side of the top panel.

Open a text editor like gedit. While the cursor is in the text field, press the keyboard icon in the top panel and select Japanese – Anthy.

The Anthy Japanese IME toolbar will appear on your screen.

Use the toolbar to toggle the various Japanese input modes. Now you’re ready to type Japanese in Ubuntu!

That wasn’t very difficult. In fact, after you do it on a few machines you can get it all set up in under a few minutes.

There you go. With these steps, you can begin typing Japanese on your Ubuntu Linux system, regardless of what language the OS menus display in.

With the release of the first Google Android phones in Japan from NTT Docomo, there are finally phones with Google’s native Japanese keyboard input. The keyboard has been in the SDK, but it has not appeared on any handsets in the U.S. yet. I have not been able to find any information about when non-Japanese Android phones will be able to use the Japanese keyboard input.

Until there is a native Japanese keyboard input, the only usable option is the Simeji Japanese keyboard input. Simeji is a Japanese input app that lets you switch input modes on the fly between English and Japanese. It includes multiple Japanese input modes, including the standard keitai-style mode. Under the phone settings you can configure the keyboard to your preferences. I prefer the vibrate on touch option to keep the Japanese input mode feel similar to the default English keyboard on the HTC Hero.

The biggest drawback to Simeji is that it is an app. Since it is not a native part of the OS, it takes time to load every time you toggle the keyboard. There is also some lag when typing at times. It is always running in the background ready to be toggled to, but it never feels like it is a natural part of the phone’s OS.

Another drawback to using Japanese input on Android is that it does not work with text messages. You can input Japanese and sent text messages; you just can’t read any messages you receive. I don’t know if this is a problem with Sprint’s network or American text messages in general, but it is a problem. I can understand an older phone having problems receiving Japanese text messages. But from Android to Android I expect better. Between Android phones you can always use Google Talk, but there is no guarantee that the person you are messaging has notifications turned on for Talk, whereas with text messages that is almost guaranteed.

Simeji works—for the most part—and has lots of configuration options. It is great that someone has created this app because there is a need for it. But the native Android Japanese input keyboard should be made available to all Android phones. The iPhone gets this right; Google should too.