What I like about having an input method editor (IME) is that I can easily type units like ℃ or ℉ to avoid ambiguity. For a Japanese IME, just type ど (do, for d

What I like about having an input method editor (IME) is that I can easily type units like ℃ or ℉ to avoid ambiguity. For a Japanese IME, just type ど (do, for degree), press spacebar until it pops out a conversion candidate list, then just find the symbol you want. Of course, you need to have known that the symbol appears ℉ when you type ど. There isn't an obvious way to find out which word is mapped to which symbol. Usually, I type きごう (kigou, for symbol) to get a list of symbols but ℉ does not appear in that list. Or, you can also use WinCompose (or Xcompose for X Windows users. For tty users, tough luck). At least, on my installation, it can be typed as "Compose Compose d e g f".