How much good dough are you ready to burn for your PC keyboard?

Most computer geeks are pretty stingy. They refuse to spit out more than the miserable amount their grandmas had spent to buy a washboard 50 years ago. So when you hear some people are eagerly paying more than US$5,000 to buy a keyboard, you will shake your head and murmur: "Oh my, this world's gone mad"! I perfectly agree. Japan is a mad, mad country.

Close-up of HHKB Professional HP Japan The most outrageous and crazy keyboard in human history.

A Fujitsu affiliate, PFU Ltd of Ishikawa, Japan, has released the most expensive keyboard in human history... wait a minute, some antique Steinway keyboards carry a far bigger price tag... All right, the most costly PC keyboard, Happy Hacking KeyBoard (HHKB) Professional HP Japan. Price? A whopping 500,000 yen excluding 5 percent VAT (US$4,240)! Oh, excuse me, is your ticker still thumping?

The keytops of HHKB Professional are handcoated with Urushi, the Japanese lacquer.

Urushi lacquer is made from the sap of Rhus vernicifula, which is a native plant of the northeast Asian forest. Since the late neolithic era, paleo-Japanese have domesticated the vernicifula and utilized Urushi as the durable coat for utensils. The oldest specimen, a wooden artifact of some 6,800 years ago, was excavated in Ishikawa prefecture, quite close to the head office of PFU Ltd.

One of the traditional Urushi artifact localities in Japan, Wajima nuri or Wajima style of lacquer coating, is located also at a stone's throw from the PFU office. Therefore, PFU engineers asked the cooperation of Wajima nuri folks who have been plying their trade continuously since at least 6,800 years ago.

A keytop being handcoated by skilled artisan. This special Urushi brush is made from the tender hairs of a virgin.

Actual coating job was performed by skilled artisans of Daitetsu-Yatsui Urushi Workshop, in nearby Wajima-city, Ishikawa. Daitetsu Workshop shuns any kind of machines, well, at least in the works of Urushi processing and coating. So, everything is done by two hands of artisans, nothing else. HHKP Professional keytops receive more than 10 coatings and one final sprinkling of gold dust. And the keytops have, naturally, no characters etched on them. Very convenient for skilled touch-typers!

HHKB Professional is made to order. Delivery term, three months after the order. Are you mad enough to order one? The direct web sale site is in Japanese only. Obviously, PFU does not expect non-Japanese customers to call in, I mean, sane and pragmatic people keep away!

 

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