PROBLEM:  

When LibreOffice is upgraded to v.4.x in Debian Wheezy, iBus shows a number of different problems.  

- In the most recent case, the icon does not switch to indicate a change in language input, althought input becomes possible.  However, the keyboard switching back to English usually fails and it becomes necessary to manually switch between language inputs using a mouse instead of the keyboard. But, manual switching is also blocked after switching back and forth several times.

- In Kubuntu 13.04 and 13.10, switching is completely blocked and it becomes impossible to input a foreign language, entirely.

- Within my (Tokyo)LUG, other members are reporting that they cannot input Japanese or other languages at all.  The issue is common to LibreOffice v.4.x, independent of OS but has also appeared to be affected by KDE version.  This last may be a false lead given what I have disconvered in Wheezy.

My work requires me to produce reports in English with terms, formal names, descriptions, and titles given in Japanese, along with other annotations and notes in Japanese and English.  In some documents, I am required to switch languages several times per line of text, inserting as many as 100+ characters per page, among the English.  I can't be taking my hands off the keyboard every couple of words to click a mouse, when clicking a mouse works at all.

OTHER DETAILS:

Current OS is Debian 7.02 Wheezy + KDE but the same issue was observed in Kubuntu 13.04 and 13.10.  

iBus is v.1.4.2 and input method is confined to Japanese with ibus-mosc, but the same issues were seen and confirmed with ibus-anthy.

All desktops' system location have been set to US English.  I have found that installing additional languages (I work in Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, German, Khmer) causes a number of other issues that I don't need and which go away when they're not there.

Other programs in which iBus input works and is immdeiately switchable are: Claws Mail 3.9.2, IceDove 17.0.10, IceWeasel 25.0, Skype and Dolphin.  The problem is confined exclusively to LibreOffice.  

TEMPORARY SOLUTION:

I switched from wheezy-backports (originally done to upgrade Claws Mail to a newer version that was more compatible with my OS) to stable "installed" versions, rolled back my Linux Kernel to 3.2 (from 3.11) and downgraded from LibreOffice 4.1 to 3.5.4.2 (Build ID: 350m1) to solve this problem.  I have returned to Linux kernel 3.11 and have blocked upgrades to newer versions.  I now upgrade selectively but would like to keep my system at latest versions.