[Matley]

Hi nekobasu,
I'm italian, but I'm here to practice my japanese too, as I intend to fly back 日本へ in a couple of years.

About writing in hiragana/katakana, you need to install East asian language support; under control panel -> international and language options.
I'd bet there's a thread about it in this forum, but I'm a newbee here and can't say for sure.