Why do people like hiragana sublegends ?

[weichenyang0723]

I am always curious about why so people like hiragana sublegends ? I've had let so many sets go by because it has sublegends on it and I personally just think it is claustrophobic (? LOL) and not as clean. I know many that don't even know Japanese at all are into it, why? Can someone explain it to me?

[Rejeckted]

You have to understand, there's a lot of other people that aren't you. I would also say some people don't think about that stuff enough to be bothered by it.

[weichenyang0723]

well that is precisely why I wanted to ask, why ? I don't know if you took my question as some sort of an attack or not but I am genuinely curious. For people that use Japanese, that is a no brainer, but I see many that buy sets with hiragana sublegends don't belong in that category. I am sure the majority of people here would disagree with me (you for me LOL) on the look of sublegends, but the fact is that there are so many sets with hiragana sublegends in their base sets must mean it is very popular. Is it an aesthetic thing ? to have a foreign language on your keyboard much like people tattooing chinese character on their body ? or do people simply don't care ?

[Bobatype]

I am agnostic to it, but I can see why people can perceive it as looking cluttered/clautrophobic.
However people love the look of the language/character of Japanese characters, so it's just an aesthetic preference, cause it's definitely not functional.
People just like the extra sauce/flair of japanese characters (see SuperDry clothing brand that's actually a UK company).
I also think there's a large population of weebs and japanophiles in the geek community too, leading to a higher proportion of preferred taste.

[jamster]

I also think there's a large population of weebs and japanophiles in the geek community too, leading to a higher proportion of preferred taste.

I think that this is it. It's just a fairly common intersection of two interests.

Personally I find foreign languages crammed onto a keyboard far too crowded, and a bit weird or in slightly questionable taste if someone doesn't write in that language. Not enough to make any sort of deal out of, though.

[zslane]

For the same reason Cyrillic legends are popular. Many people think they just look cool.

I think it's kind of funny though because, AFAIK, it doesn't happen the other way around. Japanese and Russian keyboard enthusiasts don't go out of their way to use keycaps with Latin sub-legends on them just because they think they look cool.

[kidviddy]

I think it's kind of funny though because, AFAIK, it doesn't happen the other way around. Japanese and Russian keyboard enthusiasts don't go out of their way to use keycaps with Latin sub-legends on them just because they think they look cool.

It's not quite the same thing, since the standard in Japan is to have both Latin characters with hiragana sublegends, but anecdotally I have met quite a few Japanese people who go out of their way to use keycaps which only feature the Latin characters and omit the hiragana sublegends, because they think it looks cool/clean.  On the other hand, I have never met a Japanese person who wanted a hiragana monolegend set, although that would be at least as clean as the Latin monolegends. I think this is partly a function of kana input methods being relatively minor in Japan (most people use a romaji-based input method so the Latin characters are actually more useful), and partly because they do think all-Latin looks cooler than all-Kana, which to a Japanese eye can probably look a bit babyish.

For my part, I do type Japanese using the kana input method, so I actually get some utility out of the kana legends, but given that I touch-type in both languages it doesn't matter too much and I definitely make the decision based more on aesthetics than utility.  I tend to prefer monolegend sets -- either Latin or kana -- but the fly in the ointment for me is that it's very hard to find a Latin monolegend set which supports the JIS layout (eagerly awaiting GMK JIS!), so I end up with a lot of kana monolegend or sublegend sets as those are the ones which support my layout.  Hopefully that will change as people become more aware of what JIS support entails and kits like GMK JIS open the door for future sets to make use of JIS-compatible moulds.

[Findecanor]

Has there been any key set that has been a straight replica of old MSX, FMTowns, PC8800/9800 or X68000 keys?

[weichenyang0723]

I think I may have phrased my question wrong here a bit, definitely not a hater on japanese character here more so having sublegends. Just that I see so many sets that feature hiragana sublegends. I do quite like the look of something like gmk masterpiece. 

[Sup]

Its made for people that type in Japanese and want to alternate between regular en hiragana. Nah its just weebs that want weeaboo legend lol. But mostly its because sub legends look cool. I don't like japanese sub legends but hangul looks cool or russian cyrillic.

[zslane]

I guess it depends on the kind of nerd you are. I prefer Greek/Math sublegends (Space Cadet) or Tengwar sublegends (MT3 Sindarin) over Hiragana or Cyrillic sublegends. That's because I'm a much bigger fan of computers and Tolkien than I am of anime or ... Tolstoy?

[yui]

sublegends can look good and there are a lot of weebs so the most popular is going to be hiragana, i have an Hebrew (HP 46021) and soon will have an hiragana (gmk darling) sublegended keyboards just because of the extra colors on the caps and less empty space.

[yasu]

I agree with the OP and I can actually read them. 

[Donosir]

I like them because it helps me type Japanese quicker T.T

[hwood34]

weebs

this is the answer

I think it's kind of funny though because, AFAIK, it doesn't happen the other way around. Japanese and Russian keyboard enthusiasts don't go out of their way to use keycaps with Latin sub-legends on them just because they think they look cool.

[Shinigamii]

Personally I like the look of sub legends on keysets that I find rather plain, having the extra color on the alphas looks nice in my opinion.  Looking at something recent like GMK Demon Sword, I like the extra color because I think it adds to the set as a whole, but I also really like how it looks without the subs, just simple blue and white

[Donosir]

But yeah, I wouldn't get a Keycap set with a sub legend I couldn't read. I actually use Japanese day to day at work and have always wanted to learn the 'full-width' version of the IME (where you don't just spell it in romaji to get the Hiragana to pop up)

[minnus]

I imagine since most of us probably touch type, the legends are mostly for aesthetics and everyone has different tastes. I like the clustered look - one of the reasons why I prefer the printed HHKB caps, which includes the function layer printed on the front.

[Howgii]

I like sub legends in general because they are kind of a thing of the past. Where they produced the same keyboard for two different markets. Most modern day keyboards only use mono legends because they are only intended for a particular audience. I prefer sub legends in the form of characters instead of letters, like old programming keyboards. I wish that there were more keysets that featured modifiers with sub legends, right now most keysets would only have the Alphas use sub legends.

[noisyturtle]

I do think it's funny when people who don't know a language get a cap set in it, but really not any different than having blanks. It's that same level of self satisfaction.
And some just like the look of cluttered legends.

[The Cat Whisperer]

think its just anime/japanese culture has become a lot more prevalent. most people can't even use them, but its an added aesthetic. wish that more niche languages would get sublegends like Thai

[treeleaf64]

I don't know, I'm not a weeb and i can't answer for the weebs either.

I think they like the extra character it adds

[ulises3.14]

I see is as a design accent, like blank keycaps or having legends like "hyper", "code", "meta" and such.

[namnamkm]

I was having the same question. I am new to the mechkey community, so i had thought that the designers of those keysets must be japanese or was deeply influenced by japanese culture in some way (i.e live in Japan, speaks japanese, the sets have Japan related theme...). But apparently some designers are not. I was also thinking that maybe mechkey is really popular in japan and there's more of a demand in Japan that's why designers design those set to appeal to the Japanese audience? what do you think?

[yui]

I was having the same question. I am new to the mechkey community, so i had thought that the designers of those keysets must be japanese or was deeply influenced by japanese culture in some way (i.e live in Japan, speaks japanese, the sets have Japan related theme...). But apparently some designers are not. I was also thinking that maybe mechkey is really popular in japan and there's more of a demand in Japan that's why designers design those set to appeal to the Japanese audience? what do you think?

1- read the thread
2- look at the profile picture of half the members
3- realize that weebs are everywhere
4- add onto the weebs peoples who either like secondary legends or need them
5- you got your answer

[Mistah]

I bought GMK Laser with the Hiragana sublegends and KAT Mizu with all Inuktitut monolegends. For laser, it reminds me of Blade Runner, and for Mizu, I think it just looks really cool with the Koi. Plus, I like variance, and it makes those keysets more unique to me. I don't think I would buy the same legends twice if they weren't standard Latin.

There is a reason why some Americans get "dumbass" in tattooed on their arm in Kanji, and I've seen some people in Europe wear shirts with English expletives. Sometimes things that are out of the ordinary look cool. They might not be cool, but that's not the point.

[donny_pete]

For me I think I personally like it because of the aesthetic. When I first got introduced to the community, I enjoyed the minimalistic view, but with the hiragan I enjoy the way it looks. I think it also has to do with the color palette of the keycaps

[The Cat Whisperer]

i think a lotta people associate japanese hiragana with a lot of aesthetics like vaporwave and outrun. also weebs but cant blame em

[ideus]

It does not make sense: Aesthetically, sub-legends make a keyboard to look very cluttered. Functionally, buyers of sublegeds get them for their look. There is no explanation of why people like them, nor why some of us do not. It is one of those non-senses in our lives we have to live with.