OS X comes with input methods and fonts that let you type and read Japanese. Also there is a language kit which can be installed in OS 9 that allows you to work in Japanese in Classic mode in OS X versions previous to 10.5.

OS X Leopard's Kotoeri Help is available in English. The manual for the OS 9 Japanese Language Kit can be downloaded here (Part 030-4174, 22MB):

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50037

A chart of the key sequences for Hiragana input in Apple's Kotoeri system is available here:

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/kotoericodes.jpg

To make small vowels, type x in front of them. If you are used to Windows and want to type l for this instead, go to Kotoeri Preferences and check the box for Windows behavior.

Alternative commercial Input Methods for Japanese can be found here:

ErgoSoft (EGBridge, EGWord)

Justsystem (ATOK)


Special Tips: To switch from Hiragana to Katakana quickly, use the Shift key when entering. To switch between Roman and direct Kana input, go to Kotoeri Preferences (at the bottom of the "flag" menu, and change the first item on the first tab. To select a different Roman input keyboard, switch the last item on the first tab. To transliterate Japanese text to Romaji, use Reverse Conversion from the bottom of the "flag" menu with Hiragana active, then hit the Escape key to dismiss the Palette, move the cursor to the segment desired, and select Transliterate to Romaji. If you have a Japanese (JIS) keyboard which suddenly changes to English (ANSI), the usual cure is to reset the PMU. If Japanese file names are not readable, try the File Name Encoding Repair Utility. (Ignore any error messages on installing. It will be in Applications/Utilities and works by drag/drop.) If Kotoeri Preferences doesn't open, make sure you have the Japanese system localization files installed.

Applications: Very few programs support two features of particular interest to Japanese users: Vertical layout and Furigana (Ruby) notation. In addition to MS Word and NeoOffice/OpenOffice, the programs iTextPro/LightwayText can do this. The Japanese version of Adobe Indesign and QuarkExpress 8 are also reported to have these capabilities.

OpenOffice/X11 does Furigana, but Japanese input requires adding extra stuff. See this page for some info:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5249892�

Possibly useful sites are are:

Apple Support Forums in Japanese
Japanese for Your Mac
MacFan
Goo Dictionary Widget