So, if you're like me (which is probably unlikely, too much Tuan here), you switch between English/Japanese/Chinese typing daily. You already installed the good stuff (said country's language typing), and you're tired of always having to switch between ひらがな (hiragana) and カタカナ (katakana) with the mouse, it's tedious, and it drives me crazy.
Look no further, I have the answer to all your problems (well only this one).
How to get mouse-free switching between all that good stuff (tips)
I hate whenever I first switch it to Japanese from English
(alt + shift), it automatically puts it in direct input.
1. to switch to hiragana from direct input (while in Japanese mode) press
ctrl+caps lock2. to switch to katakana from direct input (again, while in Japanese mode) press
alt+caps lockIf you want to type something in katakana, and you're in hiragana mode,
F7 is your man!
example:
Hero(hiiroo) -> ひーろー //
F7 // ヒーロー
F6-F9 does a variety of things
F6: hiragana
F7: full width katakana
F8: half width katakana
F9: full width romaji
F10: half width romaji
credits:
http://nihonhacks.com/japanese-computer/japanese-ime-kanji-selection-hotkeys/http://nihonhacks.com/japanese-computer/f7-the-magic-katakana-key/-Tuan