Japanese keyboard input has disappeared. Is there a way to reinstall it?

Question

Japanese keyboard input has disappeared. Is there a way to reinstall it?

Hi,

I'm in Japan, and switching to Japanese keyboard input (from English) is usually a doddle, but I noticed a few days ago that nothing was happening when I tried to switch to Japanese. Keyboard input settings revealed that the option for Japanese input had disappeared!

As you can see in the screenshot above, the Japanese option isn't there, and doesn't appear when I search for it in the search bar at the bottom of the window.

When I check the keyboard input menu bar, I get this:

And yet my MacBook Pro still displays Japanese text in applications just fine. Do I have to reinstall Japanese keyboard input somehow? How would I do this?

Is there another way of fixing this?

Thanks for any help in advance!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.3), 8GB RAM

Posted on Jun 11, 2014 6:09 PM

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Answer 1

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Jun 11, 2014 8:50 PM in response to SoloNerfherder

Have you used any 'cleaning utilities' recently? They can delete language files & other resources in an attempt to make space.

A reinstallation on 10.9 is simply a case of booting into recovery mode & running the installer.

I'd suggest you do that on ethernet since it is faster & more stable than wifi, it will download 10.9.3.

Select the 'Reinstall OS X' option, it will overwrite & install just the OS files. The applications & user data should remain in place. I would make sure you have a full working backup before you begin. It can't hurt to check the disk is in good order via Disk Utility before you start too. Repair if it needs it, if it is damaged beyond what DU can fix do not reinstall, post back instead.

Don't forget to check for updates after the system reboots.

I don't know if this will resolve the issue, sometimes it can help, however you haven't said anything that would explain how these files stopped working.

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Answer 2

Jun 12, 2014 12:10 AM in response to Drew Reece

It was probably Applejack, then. I learned my lesson with "cleaners" after using MacKeeper for a while, and it deleted a bunch of things and slowed my old MacBook Pro down immensely. That was a real piece of crap!

But I've never had Applejack mess things up until now. I've used it for years on my older Macs without a problem... But that's the only thing that comes to mind. I used it about a week ago after my Mac started acting a bit weird (I can't actually remember specifically what was wrong now).

Guess I'll reinstall when I have time and can make a backup... My backup drive has also been acting funny, and I'm waiting for a new SATA cable before I try anything. Thanks for the advice, Drew, hope it fixes my problem!

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Answer 3

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Jun 12, 2014 8:07 AM in response to SoloNerfherder

If you want more info on tools like this take a search around here. MacKeeper has a bad reputation & lots of opposing viewpoints…

"Best thing since…"

"Worse thing since…"

There are an awful lot of how to remove posts too… never a good sign.

I think its best to avoid any application that claims to make things better, faster or safer in the background. If it was possible to make such improvements wouldn't Apple do it already?

If you use a lot of Windows files it may be wise to run an AV scanner so you are not spreading exploits, ClamXAV is the lightest load I have managed to find (it's free too). Apple use thier own version for email scanning on OS X server too.

I don't think Applejack is as bad as MacKeeper. It has some good tools to make basic system repairs and it doesn't make dumb suggestions like cleaning language files for a few MB's of space. I think the recovery partition has superceded Applejack, so I'm not sure it is supported on 10.9?

You are wise to wait for the backup to be sound, a reinstall is not a trivial change. I hope it helps, good luck.

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