The Japanese 3DS including keyboard layout, as seen by an non-Japanese reading/writing/speaking American

.
2015-Jun-01. 2017-Mar-21.

Early in 2015 I bought a Japanese 3DS because I found out that there are some RPGs that were not released to the North American market ... (I do curse Nintendo for region-locking the 3DS) ... and I figured that I might be able to pick up a new language. However, I gotta complain: unlike Spanish or Italian that I studied in the past, I have 2 obsticles to overcome with Japanese: words and characters! Spanish and Italian use (mostly) the same characters as English, so I know what letters are what (the pronouncation is slightly different). But with Japanese, there's Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji characters! So I have A LOT to learn. But Im also older in age, so I have A LOT to forget.

As any 3DS owner knows there is a virtual keyboard. I accessed the keyboard from the Japanese eShop. Searching the Japanese eShop with English words and characters will yield you very little, if anything. So you're left with staring at

The virtual Hiragana keyboard on the Nintendo 3DS.

The 3DS virtual Hiragana keyboard

Thus started my journey into really learning Japanese; and you're reading this from an AMATEUR's prespective. The result, so far, is this webpage. Although it was painful to scrutinize each character on the 3DS to its UNICODE equivalent (this website is written in HTML afterall), I started to see a pattern in the virtual keyboard with the a,i,u,e,o. Some of the UNICODE characters didnt match up at first; different fonts render the characters slightly differently, but I figured it out. I hope I got these correct!

Comments, etc? email: sbirl@<this URLs domain>. If your email bounces, you got the domain wrong. Try again.

(more information can be available if you leave your mouse pointer over top of a character, in the table below. -- I didnt do this for every character)

Hiragana guide													Katakana guide
Hiragana (more natural words)													Katakana (imported foreign words)
゙ 12443	わ wa 12431	ら ra 12425	や ya 12420	ま ma 12414	は ha 12399	な na 12394	た ta 12383	さ sa 12373	か ka 12363	あ a 12354	消去		゙ 12443	ワ wa 12527	ラ ra 12521	ヤ ya 12516	マ ma 12510	ハ ha 12495	ナ na 12490	タ ta 12479	サ sa 12469	カ ka 12459	ア a 12450	消去
゚ 12444	を wo 12434	り ri 12426	ゆ yu 12422	み mi 12415	ひ hi 12402	に ni 12395	ち ti 12385	し si 12375	き ki 12365	い i 12356	↵		゚ 12444	ヲ wo 12530	リ ri 12522	ユ yu 12518	ミ mi 12511	ヒ hi 12498	ニ ni 12491	チ ti 12481	シ si 12471	キ ki 12461	イ i 12452	↵
⼩字	ん n 12435	る ru 12427	よ yo 12424	む mu 12416	ふ hu 12405	ぬ nu 12396	つ tu 12388	す tsu 12377	く ku 12367	う u 12358	↵		⼩字	ン n 12531	ル ru 12523	ョ yo 12519	ム mu 12512	フ hu 12501	ヌ nu 12492	ツ tu 12484	ス tsu 12473	ク ku 12463	ウ u 12454	↵
かな	、	れ re 12428	!	め me 12417	へ he 12408	ね ne 12397	て te 12390	せ se 12379	け ke 12369	え e 12360	ー 12540		かな	、	レ re 12524	!	メ me 12513	ヘ he 12504	ネ ne 12493	テ te 12486	セ se 12475	ケ ke 12465	エ e 12456	ー 12540
カナ	。	ろ ro 12429	?	も mo 12418	ほ ho 12411	の no 12398	と to 12392	そ so 12381	こ ko 12371	お o 12362	空白変换		カナ	。	ロ ro 12525	?	モ mo 12514	ホ ho 12507	ノ no 12494	ト to 12488	ソ so 12477	コ ko 12467	オ o 12458	空白変换

Diacritics, the two accent marks: dakuten and handakuten ゚
dakuten ゙													dakuten ゙
゙ 12443					ば ba 12400		だ da 12384	ざ za 12374	が ga 12364		消去		゙ 12443					バ ba 12496		ダ da 12480	ザ za 12470	ガ ga 12460		消去
゚ 12444					び bi 12403		ぢ di 12386	じ zi 12376	ぎ gi 12366		↵		゚ 12444					ビ bi 12499		ヂ di 12482	ジ zi 12472	ギ gi 12462		↵
⼩字					ぶ bu 12406		づ du 12389	ず zu 12378	ぐ gu 12368		↵		⼩字					ブ bu 12502		ヅ du 12485	ズ zu 12474	グ gu 12464		↵
かな					べ be 12409		で de 12391	ぜ ze 12380	げ ge 12370		ー 12540		かな					ベ be 12505		デ de 12487	ゼ ze 12476	ゲ ge 12466		ー 12540
カナ					ぼ bo 12412		ど do 12393	ぞ zo 12382	ご go 12372		空白変换		カナ					ボ bo 12508		ド do 12489	ゾ zo 12478	ゴ go 12468		空白変换
Example: To get Hiragana 'ga' が, type 'wa' か then type the dakuten ゙													Example: To get Katakana 'ga' ガ, type 'wa' カ then type the dakuten ゙

handakuten ゚													handakuten ゚
゙ 12443					ぱ pa 12401						消去		゙ 12443					パ pa 12497						消去
゚ 12444					ぴ pi 12404						↵		゚ 12444					ピ pi 12500						↵
⼩字					ぷ pu 12407						↵		⼩字					プ pu 12503						↵
かな					ぺ pe 12410						ー 12540		かな					ペ pe 12506						ー 12540
カナ					ぽ po 12413						空白変换		カナ					ポ po 12509						空白変换
Example: To get Hiragana 'pa' ぱ, type 'ha' は then type the handakuten ゚													Example: To get Katakana 'pa' パ, type 'ha' ハ then type the handakuten ゚

⼩ "small". 字 "letters" or "handwriting" -- ⼩字 "lowercase characters" ??
゙ 12443	ゎ wa 12430		ゃ ya 12419							ぁ a 12353	消去				゙ 12443	ヮ wa 12526		ャ ya 12515							ァ a 12449	消去
゚ 12444			ゅ yu 12421							ぃ i 12355	↵	゚ 12444				ュ yu 12517							ィ i 12451	↵
⼩字			ょ yo 12423				っ tu 12387			ぅ u 12357	↵	⼩字				ョ yo 12519				ッ tu 12483			ゥ u 12453	↵
かな										ぇ e 12359	ー 12540	かな											ェ e 12455	ー 12540
カナ										ぉ o 12361	空白変换	カナ											ォ o 12457	空白変换

So, again, let me re-iterate that I know almost NOTHING about Japanese, except watching subbed Anime and watching NHK World (Imagine-Nation, anyone?)
That being said, I often rely on Google Translate to figure things out. Apologies in advanced for any horrible translations that are in here.
(You'd think that working for a University that has a satellite campus IN Tokyo, that I would learn the language -- but no, there's too many (computer) languages stuffed in my head at the moment. There's other excuses too for not learning Japanese.)

StreetPass Menu (hide/show)

Mii を�る	Mii Wo__Ru
Mii の��	Mii No____
も�る	Mo__Ru
すれち�い Mii の��	SuReTi__i Mii No____
�うしの	__uSiNo
あいさつの��	AiSaTsuNo ____	Greetings

Main screen (hide/show)

フォルダをつくる

huoruda wotukuru

Create Folder

Searching for 3DS games in the Japanese eShop (hide/show)

Keyboard set

Press buttons in this order

Should look like

Translation

カナ

fa			i
フ	ア	⼩字	イ	ア

fa
ファイア

Fire

e	mu	bu		re	mu
エ	ム	フ	゛	レ	ム

emuburemu
エムブレム

Emblem

カナ

so	ni	pu		ro
ソ	ニ	フ	゜	ロ

sonipuro
ソニプロ

SoniPro

Character set	Buttons in this order	Should look like	Translation
English	Mario	Mario	Luigi (kidding!)
カナ	センラン	センラン	senran
カナ	カク゛ラ	カグラ	kagura
Mixed	カミ変换みやこ変换	神都	Toshin Toshi 闘神都市 (Tournament of the Gods)
かな	せいそう	せいそう	Seisou (No Amazones)
カナ	アマソ゛ネス	アマゾネス	a ma zo ne su (Amazones)
カナ	カ゛ール	ガール	ga ru (Girl)
カナ	カ゛ールス゛	ガールズ	ga ru zu (Girls)
カナ	リス゛ム	リズム	ri zu mu (rhythm)
カナ	アト゛ヘ゛ンチャ	アドベンチャ	a do be n ti ya (adventure)
カナ	メニュー	メニュー	me ni yu (menu)
カナ	ハ゛ツ⼩字ツ゛	バッヅ	ba tu du (badge)
Character set	Buttons in this order	Should look like	Translation
カナ	ラヒ゛リ	ラビリ	ra bi ri (labyrinth) 迷宮
カナ	セカイ変换	世界	Seikaiju (world tree -- Etrian) 世界樹
カナ	ルーフ゜	ループ	ru pu (loop)
カナ	ライン	ライン	ra i n (line)
カナ	レーシンク゛	レーシング	re si n gu (racing)
カナ	ト゛ラコ゛ン	ドラゴン	do ra go n (dragon)
カナ	ホ゛ール	ボール	bo ru (ball)
カナ	アトリエ	アトリエ	Atelier
カナ	ロロナ	ロロナ	Rorona
かな	むろ変换にいたら	室にいたら	(behind closed doors)
カナ	ソ゛ンヒ゛	ゾンビ	zo n bi (zombie)
カナ	レシ゛エ⼩字ント゛	レジェンド	re je n do (legend)
カナ	レカ゛シー	レガシー	re ga shi (legacy)
カナ	フ゛レイフ゛リー	ブレイブリー	bu re i bu ri (bravely)
Some of these characters require use of the built-in 3DS dictionary (below)

Japanese 3DS Dictionary which contains Kanji characters (hide/show)

To get	translation	Start typing	Typed character(s)
神	God (kami)	カミ	ka mi
都	city (miyako)	みやこ変换	mi ya ko
都	(tournament)	トナ	to na
日本語	Japanese (Nihongo)	にほんご	ni ho n go
日本	Japan (Nihon)	に	ni
学び	learn from (manabi)	まな	ma na
女	woman (onna)	おん	o n
室	room (muro)	むろ	mu ro
世界	world (sekai)	セカイ変换	se ka i
樹	tree (ki)

Japanese 3DS games requiring little or no translating needed (hide/show)

JPN eShop name	Translation	Demo?	Notes
ループラインレーシング	Loop Line Racing	Yes	Proun+ in the USA eShop. If you've played and liked 'SpeedX 3D', then this game is down your alley. Controls are simple and I figured out the winning requirements quickly.
Shifting World	Shifting World	Yes	Yes it's been translated already but the game is in card format for the USA, not downloadable like it is for Japan. Little translation needed in order to play the game.