"jyamamo" <j-yamamo@sophia.ac.jp> wrote in message 
news:c1b80fb2-891d-4f90-8fe7-86a25928eed4@f40g2000pri.googlegroups.com...
> CL wrote:
>
>> 1.  To find out which version of WIN you are subjecting yourself to,
>> click
>> Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> System Properties
>
> OK. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.
>
>> 2. "Type of Keyboard" refers to what language and how many keys, not
>> the brand name.
>
> Ah! It's a Japanese keyboard. There are 108 keys. Top row has ESC top
> left, then keys F1 to F12, PrtScr ScrLk abd Pause/Break keys (total
> 16). Underneath that are the numbers and thingies, then the QWERTY
> keyboard, with tab, lock, shift and enter keys, and a complicated set
> of keys on the bottom row, where a Western keyboard has a space bar,
> and then, on the far right, are the usual Home, Insert arrow keys,
> etc, and the number keys.
>
> And it's working fine at the moment (other glitches seem to have
> ironed themselves out), except for the input method. Advanced Japanese
> typists go for direct input, whereby the Q key becomes た in Japanese
> mode, W becomes て, and so on. Less capable users, such as myself,
> generally go for the romaji input, whereby you type TA to get た, TE to
> get て and so on. I've slipped into the direct input mode and can't get
> the romaji mode whatever IME setting I choose.
>
> Thank you for all the stuff about language settings, but I don't think
> there's anything wrong at that level, just that there's something that
> toggles between these two input methods and I have inadvertently
> toggled it (possibly while wiping crumbs off my keyboard) and don't
> know how to detoggle it.
>
> John

Press ALT together with the カタカナ/ひらがな key, which is to the right of 
the 変換 key (which is next to the space bar). This should toggle you back 
to mode you are looking for.

The following does not really apply to the above issue, but I also have 
found that. on very rare occasions, particularly when I am using a screen 
saver, regular English input will switch to katakana input, and no key 
combination will get me out. Rebooting works, but I have found that if I 
open the IME settings, change one setting, apply the change and then change 
the setting back to what it was, the problem gets cleared up. My point is 
that rewriting the settings of the IME seems to clear up certain weird 
states which don't seem to respond to key combinations.

Hope this helps!

VS