Surprised
The japanese IME on Debian, when installed properly, works pretty much similarly to the Windows 7 one… I was quite surprised by the quality of this software piece.
Step by step
- Install those packages from official repositories:
ibusandibus-mozc(along with their dependencies, of course). - Launch the Region & Language settings app.
- In Input Sources, click on the + sign.
- Search for the Japanese (Mozc) input source and add it.
- You are ready to use the IME. 🙂 Quickly switch between input sources with Super (Windows key) + Space.
Okay, it’s possible it will not work on your side. I have done some other steps but I am not sure if they were useful or not (I started from a near fresh install). If the steps above didn’t work, you may have to open the Input Method app. Then click on Yes, Yes. Select ibus and click OK. Then OK again. Then restart your computer. From there, you should be able to add the Japanese (Mozc) input source in the Region & Language settings app.
Some day, I will try to redo those steps in a virtual machine to make sure the steps are working… Until then, 幸運を祈ります！
Additional Notes
- Use the keyboard layout selector widget in the GNOME’s top bar to change the input mode from Direct to Hiragana.
- In the Region & Language app, click on the Options button and select Allow different sources for each window if you find this behavior more practical (it’s my case!).