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[esoomenona]

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[longweight]

It's not, there is only a blue set for that board, jdcarpe has a JP with the blue caps for sale at the moment.

I love the HHKB2 layout so much I would skip the JP.

[esoomenona]

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[mm87]

You can at least get black and white keysets for HHKB Pro JP, if you'd like black keyboard with white caps or vice versa. You can find them here for example.
Then there are also the japanese Topre colored keysets like the one in jdcarpe's thread, in blue/yellow/orange/red/white colors, although those dont have proper keys for the HHKB Pro JP's modifiers. You can find those on japanese Amazon for example (here), although you'd probably need some proxy service to get those.

[esoomenona]

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[jdcarpe]

Carpe alcem!

[esoomenona]

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[nar]

The modifiers are for typing in japanese.

No idea what the HHKB key does, but otherwise:
The (\) key is for not converting the typed kana into kanji (Basically Letters into Words)
The ( ) key is for converting the typed kana into kanji
The Kana key is for selection which type of kana you want to use (Hiragana or Katakana, they are basically equivalent but you'd use them in different situations and they give off a different tone, closest example would be all lowercase vs all caps)

None of these keys are actually required to type in Japanese, but they all help a lot (Akin to not having the backspace key and shift key, you can still get by perfectly fine with caps lock and delete but its nice to have). Same reason for why the arrow keys are there.

[esoomenona]

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[_js_]

Wow!  I didn't know about the HHKB JP!  Cool!  I have a Pro 2 and love it.

[NKRO]

The HHKB is designed so that you shouldn't have to move your hands away from the home row to type anything. With its considerably shorter right shift, and the position of the arrow keys, you will probably start moving your right arm to use them with the JP.

I've heard a lot of people complain about the small spacebar too. Unless you actually need the Japanese layout, rather than wanting the arrow keys, I don't know that I would recommend it.

[_js_]

The small space bar would be a deal breaker for me, that's for sure.

[esoomenona]

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[Halverson]

The small space bar would be a deal breaker for me, that's for sure.

But it's so cuuuute.

I second that notion! I'm planning on getting a HHKB in the next few months, and deciding between the Pro2 and ProJP is very hard. If they made green caps for the JP...I'd be on it so fast.

[dorkvader]

I'd use the ( ) and (\) symbols as spacebars, personally. I don't hit it in the middle at all. I don't understand why we can't have split spacebars for everything.

[HolidaySHRIMP]

Love my hhkb2 pro. I don't type in Japanese so it seems like it would break the concept of the efficient keyboard for me. Keys I don't use are wasted space.

[esoomenona]

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[NKRO]

Did you see that keyboard someone was working on where they mentioned that a very high percentage of people they surveyed only used their right thumb for the space bar, so they built a keyboard with a split spacebar, but the left half was a backspace key?

They must have surveyed right-handed office workers, because gamers would give you the opposite result. (left hand on WASD, thumb on the spacebar, right hand on the mouse)

I definitely like the idea of a split spacebar though, my right thumb is very under-utilised. Don't know that I would use it for backspace though, and I certainly don't like the HHKB-JP spacebar. I'd want a full size one split in the middle.

[o2dazone]

The spacebar would kill me. And not having a dedicated arrow cluster isn't that big of a deal when you adjust it (about a month)

[esoomenona]

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[NKRO]

In the position I'm currently in, I don't think I would be able to adjust away from not having arrow keys or a tenkey. I will be moving to a new position in the coming months, so I will have to see what is required of me there and how I can proceed on this. I'm thinking I'm going to go with a Pro 2, at this point.

Are you actually using the arrow keys in addition to other keys at the same time? Or is it one hand on the arrows, and the other on the numpad?

I actually think I would prefer the HHKB arrow key layout, as it means you don't have to move your right hand. I'm still somewhat concerned about losing the numpad though. For all the other benefits the HHKB layout brings, I think I am going to be happy with it overall though. (I hope!)

[esoomenona]

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[NKRO]

I usually have my left hand on around the tab area, or typing one handed, and my right hand on the numpad or moving the arrows around.

Have you considered a separate numpad for when you might need it? Realforce makes some that are Topre as well.

I had considered it, but at that point, I may as well buy a fullsize keyboard. (I want to bring my mouse in as close as possible due to RSI-related issues)

[isp]

The only thing I prefer that the JP has is the dedicated arrows; everything else would just be a hassle to me.

[esoomenona]

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[davkol]

If I weren't about to convert to matrix keyboards, I'd definitely go for the Japanese layout, because the extra keys could be useful as thumb modifiers.

[HolidaySHRIMP]

Once you use control in caps lock spot you'll never go back. Can't use my laptop keyboard anymore.

[mistakemistake]

Once you use control in caps lock spot you'll never go back. Can't use my laptop keyboard anymore.

This is too true. I have to remap my keys to the hhkb layout when I use my poker.

[NKRO]

Once you use control in caps lock spot you'll never go back. Can't use my laptop keyboard anymore.

Surely you can remap the keys?

I've always remapped my keyboards to a more "mac-like" layout anyway, with CTRL being on the keys next to the spacebar, then ALT, and then WIN being on the "corner" keys, as it gets the least amount of use. Don't think I will have a hard time adapting to it being in the CAPS position, though it might have been nice to have keys in that position purely as Fn keys or being able to map them to add a third function layer to the keyboard.

[HolidaySHRIMP]

Once you use control in caps lock spot you'll never go back. Can't use my laptop keyboard anymore.

Surely you can remap the keys?

I've always remapped my keyboards to a more "mac-like" layout anyway, with CTRL being on the keys next to the spacebar, then ALT, and then WIN being on the "corner" keys, as it gets the least amount of use. Don't think I will have a hard time adapting to it being in the CAPS position, though it might have been nice to have keys in that position purely as Fn keys or being able to map them to add a third function layer to the keyboard.

I probably could remap with third party tool since I use windows, however, because of the hhkb perfect size it fits in my work bag and I can just place the board on top of the laptop key board and never have to stray from my beloved hhkb.^___^