#diarace

BASIC FUNCTION

holding any one of the keys down will allow you to see the options built into it.

it helps to already be familiar with the layout of the hiragana chart; the あ key will enable you to type the characters in the あ-row, the ま key will enable you to type the characters in the ま-row… etc.

tapping the keys once will produce the character in the respective row that ends with the vowel sound ‘A’; the character that is displayed on the key itself.

flicking left will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘I’; flicking left on the な key will produce the character に

flicking upwards will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘U’; flicking upwards on the な key will produce the character ぬ

flicking right will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘E’; flicking right on the な key will produce the character ね

flicking downwards will produce the character that ends with the vowel sound ‘O’; flicking downwards on the な key will produce the character の

‼️this is slightly different for the や and わ keys. hold them down to familiarise yourself with their specific options.‼️

alternatively, you can move through the rows of characters by repeatedly tapping the keys, kind of like typing the alphabet on a brick phone.

to add a dakuten to a character you have just typed, tap this key

to add a handakuten to a character in the は-row, double-tap it instead

this key also transforms the character つ (as well as the five vowels) into their 小さい forms (小 meaning ‘small’ — ぁぃぅぇぉっ)

CONVERSION

it is easy to convert from hiragana to kanji. when you type something that might correspond to kanji, options will be displayed above the keyboard. click whichever one corresponds to the kanji you intended to type. scroll through it (or click the arrow to open up the options as a dropdown menu) until you find it.

the options displayed for the input 「からい」

converting from hiragana to katakana (or to half-width katakana) works in a similar way.

the options displayed for the input 「わくわく」

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

- the ➡️ key allows you to type strings of the same character (e.g. 「ああああああああ」 or 「ただ」 in 「ただいま」) without cycling through different ones.

- the ^_^ key opens up a looooong list of kaomoji.

i engaged with japanese culture a lot as a child, probably starting with my practice of karate. i was always excited by homages paid to its place of origin, such as the japanese words and phrases used by my sensei during class. when i got a bit older, i developed a solid interest in japanese pop culture following my discovery of harajuku fashion, namely of decora kei. by age ten, i had hit the japanese textbooks; i quickly picked up hiragana and built up the capacity for simple sentences. i felt myself drawn to the japanese cultural identity very early on.

i first began to put a name to my transrace identity when the term ‘rcta’ (race change to another) went viral on tiktok; around the summer of 2022. i know, i shivered too LOL rctatok was an experience and a half (PSA PSA PSA i do not identify with that term anymore because the person who coined it had predatory intentions when doing so). the bait account situation wasnt crazy at that point in time so i did get to interact with a lot of very sweet individuals who were experiencing a similar incongruence to me. however, one of the big problems with rctatok was its hyperfocus on aesthetics as opposed to education and community. my identity was basically just… stereotypes that i had discovered through tiktok, and it seemed that way for a lot of other people too in retrospect.

then rctatok became mainstream enough that it was impossible to find content on the tag that wasnt made by antis or was not bait. the community became saturated with people who were there to make degrading comments or just to have a laugh. this was taking a toll on my mental health so i left the community for good. between then and now i have fluctuated between being disgusted by the fact i ever wanted to be japanese and ‘fuck it i guess this is me’.

i came to properly accept the latter mindset when i discovered the tumblr diarace/trace community and, consequently, the transID community. i hold you all very close to my heart because i think i am the happiest i have ever been. after years of unpacking my 13-year-old self’s stereotypical ideas about japan and being japanese, i can confidently say that i am japanese in my own unique way. it makes its way into my mundane day-to-day tasks such as the things i eat for breakfast but also into my ideas about the wider world; i care deeply for japan’s social and cultural issues and also occasionally dabble in its politics. i have come to better understand racism committed against east asian people (especially against women), including its roots and tendency to be swept under the rug, by listening to anecdotes and learning its history.

it’s been a pretty wild ride, but that’s my story. take care of yourselves!