I think I might have found a replacement for Gboard just now. First I found Fossify had a keyboard, but no Japanese input. Then I found one I'm gonna have to get used to that I'm currently trying out:

スミレ日本語キーボード ( Sumire Japanese keyboard )

I need to comb through settings to see if this is actually the keyboard for me, but I am liking it sk far. Really have to check if for their English QWERTY board there is a setting to bring the period to the letter section or if it is trapped with the other punctuation and make it so it automatically puts a space after doing one of their suggested words in the top bar thing.

The Japanese board is 9-key and also has a QWERTY romaji board, so I'm satisfiedright now. I personally don'tcare about the romaji board since I can read hiragana and katakana and I prefer 9-key because it's what I am used to on Gboard, but it's coolfor those that need it for any reason.

I also just learned before posting my comment that the keyboard defaults to that Japanese 9-key everytime you bring up the keyboard. Not a big deal, just another thing to learn and get used to.

Edit: switching to HeliBoard for English and switching as need be for Japanese. Just making the switch to get stuff done in a more efficient and timely manner.