Normally, I would install Scim and Anthy for Japanese input method on Debian. Recently, I found an easier way to achieve the same thing, which is to use IBus instead of Scim.

  1. Install ibus: sudo apt-get install ibus ibus-anthy ibus-gtk
  2. From the menu, System -> Preferences -> IBus Preference
IBus Preference should detects that you have run IBus daemon yet, click “Yes” to run it.

  1. You’ll be asked to edit your .bashrc and add the following 3 lines:<br /> export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus

  2. Click on “Input Method” tab, if you don’t see “Japanese – Anthy” listed under the Input Method list, select “Japanese -> Anthy” from the “Select an input method” drop down list, then click Add.

  3. You might want to restart X (logout and log back in)

  4. Open a text editor, and hit Ctrl + Space to toggle the Japanese input method

Reference: Japanese Input with Karmic?