So I was able to get Carl to do a mini-interview for us, as I thought it would be insightful. Carl currently works at Archisite in Tokyo. Unfortunately he couldn't answer all my questions, but below are the ones he was able to answer:
1. What sparked your interest in designing keyboards?"When I touch(ed) a bad touch feeling keyboard…"
2. What keyboard did you first design? If it was simply a prototype, was it a throwaway and what did you learn from building it?"Majestouch is first time.
At first, StrongMan(Taiwan factory) made FILCO keyboard and Diatec had purchased.
( StrongMan went bankrupt before 3-4 years)"
http://www.diatec.co.jp/products/det.php?prod_c=11http://www.diatec.co.jp/products/det.php?prod_c=6"But, I thought I had to make ourselves design keyboard and Diatec cooperated closely with Costar on Majestoch project."
3. Was the Filco Majestouch the first major consumer product that you worked on? If not, which product was?"No, it (was an) AC/DC adapter."
4. From whom did the requirements come for the Filco Majestouch? What market were you trying to target?"Only in Japan market,
I had no target-market.
For example, gaming keyboard market in Japan is small,
But Japanese people like luxury product, Realforce is good sales.
So, I made Majestouch as FILCO."
5. What prompted some of your design decisions? (Choice of controller, PCB, other build materials, etc.)"Total balance, I think the balance is important."
6. Do you feel that the Leopold is better designed than the Filco? Why or why not?"Yes, of course!
I cannot tell you. Because I cannot tell the FILCO weak point."
7. What keyboard design have you seen that you find to be the most impressive?"Apple Ajustable keyboard"
http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~kazzysvg/newfiles/keyboard6.html8. Do you believe that the future market for mechanical keyboards will be strong? Why or why not?"Yes, it will be strong, because I think the keyboard forum geekhack.org will be."