I've copied this from the LanguageZone website because I thought it may be useful to other people. どうも ありがとう to Lesley and Brian who helped out as we tried to sort this out!
You first of all need to go the XP Japanese download site where you can find the Office XP Japanese language pack. By installing this, then restarting your computer, you should find that you can now read the Japanese on these pages. You should also be able to read Japanese on MSN convos etc.
However, in order to *write* in Japanese on here, I think you need to install something else: the Global IME for Japanese can be found here and if you follow all the instructions on that page you should be able to write in Japanese.
It's soooo cool using it on your computer - next week at class I'll show you how it works. You basically switch on Japanese input and as you type, eg "watashi", each syllable (mora) comes up. So I'd type w-a and I'd be given わ immediately. As I continue to type t-a I get た and as I type s-h-i I get し. Now comes the really cool bit. Having typed "watashi", I have three moras of hiragana: わたし. But if I press the space bar, it presents me with the possible kanji writings of that combination of sounds. These include 私、渡し, among others. If I know my kanji (it always helps...) then I know that the first one it showed me is the correct kanji for "watashi" meaning "I", so I accept it by pressing the return key. That, at least is how it works on a Mac. I assume it's something similar on a PC. I have a meeting later today during which I should be able to find out a bit more, or at least try the PC version.
がんばって！
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