Optimizing the Japanese Environment in Omarchy Post-Installation

This article is written by a human.
It is intended for those who are interested in Linux desktops and are wondering, "What is Omarchy?"

This is the project that DHH, the creator of Ruby on Rails, is most active in for 2025.
(Official Site)

In essence, it is a convenient script that transforms Arch Linux into the ultimate development environment.
You can understand what makes it so great by watching DHH's explanation video.
It covers basic operations and includes the installation process for Arch Linux.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Mnni7cea8

A new menu system has been available since v1.11.0, so please refer to this as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cft6mZDzIng

As for the meaning of Omarchy, it is a portmanteau of Omakase + Arch Linux = Omarchy, implying that you can use a Linux desktop as an "Omakase" (chef's choice) course. However, as mizchi-san mentioned, the way "Omakase" is handled in non-Japanese speaking regions is often quite something.

https://x.com/mizchi/status/1939214126972350770

Beyond OMAKASE

While Omarchy allows you to set up a development environment with a single script, right after installation, it is not exactly in a state that could be called easy to use for a Japanese language and Japanese keyboard environment.

While you can find many ways to do it if you search, the articles are scattered across the web, making the barrier to entry feel high. Therefore, I have summarized how to set up a Japanese environment without getting lost after installation.

Depending on the download time, it is a task that should take about 15 minutes.

Changing User Directory Names to English

If you select Japanese during installation, folder names in the user directory such as "Documents" (ドキュメント) and "Downloads" (ダウンロード) will be in Japanese. Since this is subtly inconvenient, we will change them to English names.

Launch the terminal, run the following command, and restart

Run the following command in the terminal:

LC_ALL=C xdg-user-dirs-update --force

User directory before execution

User directory after execution

After restarting, delete the Japanese folders

Japanese Input Environment

Even if you select Japanese during installation, you cannot input Japanese in the default state. We will change the keyboard settings and install an IME (Input Method Editor).

Setting the Keyboard Layout to Japanese

Run the following command in the terminal and select jp106. (Skip this if you are using an English keyboard.)

localectl set-keymap jp106

Modifying Hyprland Key Config

Press SUPER + Alt + SPACE to launch the utility and select SETUP → Input.
Uncomment the kb_layout item and save it as jp. (Skip this if you are using an English keyboard.)

Installing fcitx5-configtool and fcitx5-mozc-ut

 yay -S --noconfirm --needed fcitx5 fcitx5-configtool fcitx5-gtk fcitx5-qt fcitx5-mozc-ut

Setting Up Mozc to Start from the Config Tool

Run the following command in the terminal to launch the fcitx5 configuration tool.

fcitx5-configtool

Immediately after launching, only Keyboard - English (us) is selected.

Delete Keyboard - English (us) (skip for English keyboards)
Add Keyboard - Japanese (skip for English keyboards)
Add Mozc
After adding, click Apply and close the configuration tool.

Although it is hidden, clicking this icon will display the IME.
Pressing the "Kana" key will switch to Mozc.

Installing Visual Studio Code

Neovim is included, but since Visual Studio Code is still easier to use, we will install it.

 yay -S --noconfirm --needed visual-studio-code-bin

Solution for when the browser doesn't open during GitHub authentication in Visual Studio Code:
-> Visual Studio Code -> Settings -> Search for "Workbench: External Browser"
Delete the entered value and leave it empty.

Settings for Electron-based Apps, Visual Studio Code, and Microsoft Edge

Electron-based apps (Visual Studio Code) and Microsoft Edge do not activate Mozc during input in a Wayland environment. There are several ways to solve this, but to make it reusable even after a reinstallation, we will place flag files in the .config directory to load the settings at startup.

cd ~/.config
touch code-flags.conf
touch microsoft-edge-stable-flags.conf

Write the following items into the created flag files:

--password-store=gnome-libsecret
--ozone-platform-hint=wayland
--gtk-version=4
--ignore-gpu-blocklist
--password-store=basic

Now, IME input via Mozc will be available even in Electron-based apps.

If the IME cannot be used in other Electron-based apps in the same way, create a flag file using the same procedure.

Node.js Installation

Omarchy comes with the library management tool "Mise" installed by default, so we will use that.

mise use node@latest

Enabling Google Drive and OneDrive in the Filer

The filer used in Omarchy is Nautilus, so you can access Google Drive and OneDrive network storage. Since Omarchy does not include the Control Center or gvfs-related libraries by default, we will install them and perform online authentication.

Installing GNOME Control Center and gvfs

Install the Control Center, gvfs, and their related libraries.

 yay -S gnome-control-center gvfs gvfs-google gvfs-onedrive

Running the Command in the Console to Launch Control Center

env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME gnome-control-center --verbose

Adding Google and Microsoft 365 in Online Accounts

Click on Google and Microsoft 365 here to display the registration screen.

For Google account registration, click Sign In. It will redirect to your default browser, so log in to Google and then come back.

Sign in to Microsoft 365 in the same way.

After registration, it will be displayed as follows. Close the Control Center here.

Confirming Online Connection in the Filer

Press SUPER + F to launch the filer. Check if the items for Google Drive and OneDrive have been added to the side menu, and select them to see if you can connect.

When you register an online account, you will be prompted to enter the password for the default keyring when you first launch the filer. I haven't found a solution for this yet, so I will add it once I find out.

Settings for Windows Users

Installing Microsoft Edge

yay -S microsoft-edge-stable-bin

With this, if only I could use Office 365, I could completely break away from Windows. However, operating purely through the browser is still slightly inconvenient.

Summary

With the installation and settings covered so far, I believe it reaches a level where using Japanese for daily tasks is no longer a problem.
That said, it is still more tedious compared to Windows or Mac, so I hope that eventually, setting up everything down to Mozc can be done with a single standard command.

Bonus: DHH Gets Serious

37signals, where DHH belongs, has announced that they will replace the devices they use over the next three years from Macs to Framework or Beelink PCs with Omarchy installed, so the number of users is expected to increase. Although not yet released at the time of writing, preparations for an Omarchy installer ISO are underway, and it looks like Omarchy will gain popularity as a Linux distribution in the future.

https://x.com/dhh/status/1953485836118356187

I hope this article serves as a starting point for your Omarchy life.