Looking to buy a keyboard in Japan

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Hey, I have already read the wiki on where to buy keyboards in Japan and the helpful sites it linked. However, I was still unable to find a reasonably priced Filco blue tenkeyless that's either English or Otaku. I have found a lot of blacks and browns while I am searching for the keyboard so I thought the failure might be contributed by my failure to do searches. I would much prefer an online store that ships within Japan than physical ones as it would save 2 bus fairs and less confusion for my friend. Are there any noteworthy keyboards other than Filco at around the 9000yen point?

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Ah, guess it is time to look into a cheap brown tenkeyless

Does anyone know the difference between FKBN91M/NB and FKBN91M/JB? They both have the same switch and the product picture looks very similar but the price difference is about 2000y o_O on Amazon.

[J888www]

I would much prefer an online store that ships within Japan........keyboards other than Filco at around the 9000yen point?

Saw a thread yesterday for Filcos and Duckys from Taiwan, pretty sure they had some MX Blues.

Ducky MX Blue. Choose 英文鍵盤 from drop-down box for English KBD.

Filco MX Blue

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Actually I originally wanted to purchase the Duckies but because they are using Fedex, I am afraid there might be a high brokerage cost and the chance of inuring duty really scares me. So I thought maybe I can just ask my friend who is currently in Japan to buy it there and bring it to me here in Canada.

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Argh, looks like the Japanese layout has a tiny space bar. I wonder if it will be hard to press if my hand rests wasd cluster.

[J888www]

.......high brokerage cost and the chance of inuring duty really scares me.

ATM there's a US$20 Shipping promotion and you are offered a 7 Days cooling period for returns. Purchasing from a retail would be less worrying if you can find the product.

[namelessguy]

Argh, looks like the Japanese layout has a tiny space bar. I wonder if it will be hard to press if my hand rests wasd cluster.

Where on the space bar do you usually hit with your thumb?
Actually, space bars on Filco Majestouch boards are much larger than ones on other standard Japanese keyboards, so it should hardly be a problem, if I say.
But don't ask me about the backspace/enter keys!

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ATM there's a US$20 Shipping promotion and you are offered a 7 Days cooling period for returns. Purchasing from a retail would be less worrying if you can find the product.

I am not really worried about shipping but the hidden fees are what scares me. I do not mind paying tax, but duty and brokerage are the uncertainty.

Where on the space bar do you usually hit with your thumb?
Actually, space bars on Filco Majestouch boards are much larger than ones on other standard Japanese keyboards, so it should hardly be a problem, if I say.
But don't ask me about the backspace/enter keys!

I actually type between the c and the v key. You might be right and the backspace key do look like trouble

Store brand (EZ-KB108C02-BK) isn't bad and at $60 is a real steal.  But it's fullsize.

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Wow that actually looks really good. I just have to find my old ISO iRock scissors keyboard to see if I can adjust to the small backspace key. Thanks for all the advices.

[namelessguy]

Yet another tenless mechanical keyboard, maybe?
http://www.archisite.co.jp/archiss_as-kb87.htm
Well I don't know about its details since it's relatively new product, less than a month old, but looks good on paper.

EDIT: Found more interesting pages on that site http://www.archisite.co.jp/topre_archisite.html
http://www.archisite.co.jp/topre_se170s.htm
A US layout Topre Black Tenless Low-noise model but now this IS expensive.

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Yet another tenless mechanical keyboard, maybe?
http://www.archisite.co.jp/archiss_as-kb87.htm
Well I don't know about its details since it's relatively new product, less than a month old, but looks good on paper.

EDIT: Found more interesting pages on that site http://www.archisite.co.jp/topre_archisite.html
http://www.archisite.co.jp/topre_se170s.htm
A US layout Topre Black Tenless Low-noise model but now this IS expensive.

Hmm, that archiss looks really nice. only 6900 yen on amazon.jp and it has proper ANSI format. Is there really no review available for that keyboard? It does look quality though.

[namelessguy]

Hmm, that archiss looks really nice. only 6900 yen on amazon.jp and it has proper ANSI format. Is there really no review available for that keyboard? It does look quality though.

No review that you can trust as of now, maybe except the one on 2ch, the infamous gigantic forum of anonymous users.
http://hibari.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/hard/1287583252/703
(translation below)

My impression on AS-KB87C blue Cherry as of a few days use
Many would want comparison against Majestouch tenkeyless
but I don't have and haven't actually used one so I don't know about that

The difference on specs are the detachable cable and the CapsKey and ScrollLock lights
It's very good to be able to have the cable on any of 3 ways
The lights are too bright (but I disable Caps and using it as Ctrl so I don't mind that)

-made in Taiwan
-keycaps have cheap plastic feeling, and letters seem to wear off rather quickly
-board itself is moderately heavy and feels sturdy
-no wobbling unstable key, but long-shaped keys (such as right-shift) don't feel very good compared to my other boards (HHKB Pro, Model M, etc)
-experienced occasional double-input, but I guess it's because I'm not used to the blue Cherries
-this is my first blue cherry board and it's rather comfortable with light clicky typing feel

conclusion
it's hard to decide if this does really worth 8000 yen
especially letters on the keycaps are no good
but there are so few alternatives when it comes to tenkeyless blue Cherry keyboard
so probably it doesn't hurt to have one if you care

Other people of course are waiting for moar reviewers, and this is the internet for you, so they say

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No review that you can trust as of now, maybe except the one on 2ch, the infamous gigantic forum of anonymous users.
http://hibari.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/hard/1287583252/703
(translation below)Other people of course are waiting for moar reviewers, and this is the internet for you, so they say

ouch, that review sounds kind of bad.

[namelessguy]

ouch, that review sounds kind of bad.

Actually I didn't think so, because it's on 2ch and people there tend to be extremely straightforward and usually harsh.
They, as a whole, say that Filco and SteelSeries boards are mostly defective, Topre doesn't listen users' feedback and is money monger, designers of HHKB are just psycho, Libertouch simply doesn't worth its price even without the disgusting logo. And no, they are no flamebait out there

[~Blood~]

at least they tell the truth, I once bought a alarm clock from amazon and it had lots of good comments, turned out that it hummed when connected to electricity so it was utterly useless, can't stand noise at night

NOONE wrote that in those reviews

[namelessguy]

Well, never underestimate the pandemonium.
The only thing you can't find on 2ch is top-end science discussion. Everything else imaginable is going out there. At least 3 million post/day is no joke.