Here is a slight variation to the above directions..........
go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/keyboard and then right click on the keyboard icon/click OPEN/go to the Input Locales Tab/ go to the ADD button/chose "Japanese INput System [MS-IME2000]"/then click APPLY.
This should work if you are running Win2K.....98, ME, XP I am not so sure but since it is all Bill Gates stuff it should be similar.
After that set up is complete you should see a new Icon on the task bar at the bottom next to your clock.
It should look like "EN", left click it and there should be 2 language settings......English & Microsoft IME 2000 (Japanese).
Clcik the Japanese Lang. Icon and another little task bar should pop up.
On it there will be an A, (kanji) a paint bucket, a dictionary, a finger, a "?" mark, CAPS/KANA.
Click on the "A" and a menu pops up.......click the "Hiragana" and the "A" turns into a Hiragana symbol.
You should be able to type in hiragana after that.
If you want to use kanji, type a word then hit the space bar while the hiragana is still underlined. This gives you a selection of kanji and kana to choose from. This is the hard part since you need to know the right kanji to use.
The Jap. Lang. feature is not a translation device but a feature for Japanese people to be able to write in Japanese using an English O/S.
This little gizmo saved me about $2,000 because I was going to go and buy a Japanese O/S computer so I could type in Japanese.
If anyone still has trouble let me know.