Enabling Japanese Input

In newer versions there is no need to install any packages (e.g., anthy) for writing Japanese on emacs:

  1. C-x RET c-\ will open a minibuffer with a list of language options.
  2. Choose japanese.
  3. Press C-\ to toggle Japanese input.

Performance Problems

While working on the org-notebook-mode minor mode for emacs I noticed that opening text files with a large number of Japanaese characters caused massive lag in emacs. Upon searching around for solutions it seemed that this is a bug in the Windows version having to do with rendering some non-alphabetic TrueType fonts.

The workaround (via Stack Exchange) is to set the following somewhere in the init file:

(setq inhibit-compacting-font-caches t)

Although with this emacs still feels sluggish at times, at least it’s now usable.