Japanese Keyboard Stuck in Kana Input? How to Switch Back to Romaji Input
You press "a" and get the hiragana "chi", or type "ohayou" and get "rakuchinrana". If that happens on a computer keyboard, Japanese input has switched to kana input. In most cases you can return to normal romaji input by pressing one key combination again. This article covers how to turn off kana input on Windows and Mac, why it switches on by itself and the setting that stops it happening again, and how to turn text like "rakuchinrana" that you typed without noticing back into what you meant to write.
First check the symptom: is it really kana input?
There are several reasons keyboard input can go wrong, and each has a different fix. Look at what appears when you type to work out which one you're dealing with.
| Symptom when typing | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| a becomes "chi" and k becomes "no" in hiragana; ohayou becomes "rakuchinrana" | Kana input is on | Switch back to romaji input using the methods in this article |
| You want Japanese, but ohayou stays as Latin letters | Japanese input is off (alphanumeric mode) | Turn Japanese input on with the Hankaku/Zenkaku key on Windows or the Kana key on a Mac |
| Letters come out wide, like ｏｈａｙｏｕ | Full-width alphanumeric input mode | Set the input mode to Hiragana or Half-width Alphanumeric |
| Number keys move the cursor and no digits appear | NumLock is off on the numeric keypad | Press the NumLock key |
| Some keys produce the wrong symbol (@ and " swapped, etc.) | Keyboard type setting (JIS vs US) is wrong | Check the keyboard layout setting in your OS |
If you get the symptom at the top, where the kana printed on the key comes out, that's kana input. On a Japanese keyboard, each key is printed with a kana character as well as a Latin letter, and in kana input the kana on the right of the key is entered directly. The A key carries "chi" and the O key carries "ra", so "a" becomes "chi" and "ohayou" becomes "rakuchinrana".
How to turn off kana input on Windows
In Microsoft IME, the standard on Windows, any of the following switches you back to romaji input. Trying them in order from the top is recommended.
- 1
Press Alt + Katakana/Hiragana
Hold Alt and press the Katakana/Hiragana/Romaji key at the bottom right of the keyboard, to the right of the space bar. Each press toggles between kana input and romaji input. If a confirmation dialog appears, choose Yes.
- 2
Switch it from the IME icon in the taskbar
Right-click the IME icon at the bottom right of the screen (it shows the hiragana "a" or the letter "A") and select Kana input in the menu to turn it off. When it's on, it's shown as something like "Kana input (On)".
- 3
Turn it off in the IME settings
Right-click the IME icon → Settings → General, and turn off the setting for using kana input (such as "Use kana input on a hardware keyboard").
Menu and setting names differ slightly between Windows 10 and Windows 11, and between IME versions. If you can't find it, look through the items in the IME icon's right-click menu for one mentioning "kana". If you use a different Japanese input program such as ATOK, its own menu has a kana input switch.
How to turn off kana input on a Mac
On a Mac, you switch between kana input and romaji input in the settings for the Japanese input source.
- 1
Open System Settings
Open Apple menu → System Settings → Keyboard.
- 2
Edit the input sources
Under Text Input, click Edit next to Input Sources, and select Japanese in the list on the left.
- 3
Set the input method to romaji input
Change Input method from Kana to Romaji.
On older macOS, go to System Preferences → Keyboard → Input Sources and choose between "Japanese - Romaji" and "Japanese - Kana". If the input menu in the menu bar (the hiragana "a" or "A" icon) lists a kana input item, simply reselecting romaji input there also fixes it.
If an external keyboard is connected to an iPad or iPhone, go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Hardware Keyboard and set the Japanese input method to romaji.
Why does it switch to kana input by itself?
When you end up in kana input without remembering changing any settings, it's almost always because you accidentally pressed a Windows shortcut.
- Alt and the Katakana/Hiragana key are both right next to the space bar, so they're easy to press together, for example while trying to switch windows with Alt+Tab
- A child or pet touched the keyboard, or something was put on it, pressing several keys at once
- On a shared computer at work or school, the previous user left it set to kana input
- A major Windows update or reinstalling the IME reset the settings to their defaults
If it keeps happening, stopping the shortcut from switching it gives you peace of mind. In Microsoft IME on Windows 11, right-click the IME icon → Settings → General, where there's a setting for whether Alt + Katakana/Hiragana switches between kana input and romaji input. Turn it off and an accidental press won't switch modes.
How to restore text like "rakuchinrana" that you've already typed
Even if you've typed a long passage in kana input without noticing, you don't need to retype it. Each character produced by kana input corresponds one-to-one with the key you pressed, so if you turn the kana back into the key letters and read those as romaji, you get the text you meant to type.
| Characters produced in kana input | Keys pressed | Read as romaji |
|---|---|---|
| ra-ku-chi-n-ra-na | ohayou | ohayou (good morning) |
| n-ra-su-ra-to-ku-ni-no-na | yoroshiku | yoroshiku (nice to meet you) |
| ra-ka-to-na-no-chi-su-i-to-chi-mo-chi-shi-i-to-na | otsukaresamadesu | otsukaresama desu (thanks for your hard work) |
| chi-su-ni-ki-chi-ka-ra-na | arigatou | arigatou (thank you) |
Doing this conversion by hand is tedious, but the keyboard cipher in the Japanese Cipher Puzzle Maker does it instantly.
- 1
Choose "Keyboard cipher (kana input)" as the method
Open the Japanese Cipher Puzzle Maker and choose the keyboard cipher as the cipher method.
- 2
Paste the characters produced in kana input into "Encode"
Enter text like "rakuchinrana" in kana and it's turned back into the keys you pressed (ohayou). When the letters can be read as romaji, the result of reading them (ohayou, in hiragana) is also shown.
- 3
Copy the result and paste it back
After switching back to romaji input, retype the letters shown, or paste the text that was read out.
Even if you paste it into "Solve an unknown cipher" without knowing the method, it appears as a candidate labelled "Latin letters typed in kana mode (read as romaji)". If the text mixes in letters that can't be read as romaji (English words, passwords and so on), use the key letters instead. If you only need to turn romaji letters into hiragana, the Romaji Converter tool also works.
Preventing switches to kana input
- In Microsoft IME on Windows 11, turn off switching with Alt + Katakana/Hiragana
- Get into the habit of glancing at the IME icon in the taskbar (you can check for kana input in its menu)
- When you start using a shared computer, type one character first to check
- In password fields, characters are hidden as dots, so kana input is hard to notice. If logins keep failing, suspect the input method
Kana input itself is a handy way to type Japanese with fewer keystrokes than romaji input. If the key layout, with "chi" on A and "tsu" on Z, has piqued your interest, How to solve keyboard ciphers, with a key-to-kana table lists which kana sits on which key. It also works as a cipher for puzzles.
FAQ
- Why does pressing "a" on my keyboard give the hiragana "chi"?
- Because Japanese input has switched to kana input. The A key is printed with the kana "chi", and in kana input that kana is entered. On Windows, hold Alt and press the Katakana/Hiragana key to switch back to romaji input.
- What's the shortcut for switching between kana input and romaji input?
- In Microsoft IME on Windows it's Alt + the Katakana/Hiragana (Romaji) key. Macs have no standard equivalent shortcut; you choose the input method under Input Sources in the Keyboard section of System Settings.
- How can I fix text like "rakuchinrana" in one go?
- Each character produced by kana input matches the key you pressed one-to-one, so turning it back into the key letters reveals the original text. Paste it into "Encode" with the keyboard cipher in the Japanese Cipher Puzzle Maker, and it shows the keys you pressed (ohayou) and the result of reading them as romaji.
- Can I stop it switching to kana input when I haven't done anything?
- In Microsoft IME on Windows 11, you can turn off switching with Alt + Katakana/Hiragana under General in the settings. Once it's off, pressing the keys by accident won't change the input method.
- Is kana input also why I get plain Latin letters?
- No. Getting plain Latin letters means Japanese input is off (alphanumeric mode), which is a different cause from kana input. Press the Hankaku/Zenkaku key on Windows or the Kana key on a Mac to turn Japanese input on.
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