My HHKB Experience
Last Updated: 14/08/2026
[Original Image] I actually layered a few
images together as just one image would either blow out the keys in direct
sunlight or make the background very dark!
Overview
This article covers my seven days with my new HHKB Lite2 keyboard. I’ve basically “journaled” any day I’ve wanted to update this blog so there may just be two logs, who knows!
Around a week ago, I ordered a HHKB Lite2 to be imported from Japan. For a long time, I’ve wanted a HHKB, but when I checked, they were all ludicrously expensive. Thats until my friend showed me how I could get one for just ~£15 (¥3,200). I bought one shortly after that.
Now the keyboard isn’t a “proper” HHKB with the Topre switches and has membrane instead, but I don’t think that really matters as I prefer the sound of membrane keyboards when programming anyways.
From the image, it looked very yellow (from sun damage) and I assumed that I would probably want to retrobright it with something like hydrogen-peroxide. It also was a Japanese layout but all the US layouts were black and all of them were kind of gunky..
Day One: [07/08/2026]
Looks
Today I recieved the keyboard (surprisingly, it only took four days after getting shipped from Japan)! My first impressions were that it’s very yellow; I initially thought that person who last owned it always had his curtains open (how brave). It also sounded very pleasing. It was like the average membrane sound but with a lot more thock–overall it was positive.
After a bit of time using it, I noticed that the yellowing was very evenly coated and actually gave it a very pleasing creamy color. I personally think it looks even better than the original, greyish colour; I don’t think I’ll retrobright it.
I now have a new theory that the keyboard was just propped up on and outfacing shelf of some store. There isn’t a single hair underneath the keycaps and it’s in pristine condition!
Layout
I particularly enjoy the layout on this keyboard. It’s basically QWERTY, but with a few quirks.
The biggest ones are that the CapsLock is CTRL (Caps is now under Tab), there are four new modifier keys and that it’s in a Japanese layout.
While I used to host my ESC key on CapsLock, I think that moving control there is fine but probably only on this keyboard (see the bit on the four modifiers). Overall, CTRL with your pinky is very pleasing to use as it’s a common key that I don’t have to reach for anymore.
The four extra modifiers for me are useless; I don’t know Japanese so they don’t do much. That means I can remap them!
| Key | Romanised | Remap |
|---|---|---|
| 半角/全角 | Hankaku/Zenkaku | Super - It was still super but needed Fn to activate. Now it activates without the modifier |
| 無変換 | Muhenkan | ESC - This is where I remapped it to; it’s actually much easier to press than CapsLock but I still need to retrain myself |
| 変換 | Henkan | Space - For these three keys, I have no idea what to map them to.. perhaps I’ll do something later but I don’t know for now. It also helps with me not missing space as it’s a bit smaller now |
| 前候補 | Mae Koho | Space |
| カタカナ/ひらがな/ローマ字 | Hiragana/Katakana/Romaji | Space |
I think the Japanese input layout is actually very good for programming but I’m still getting used to it. Some changes I like are:
- Colon and semi-colon are now separate--I don't have to press Shift when doing something on Vim
- @ also doesn't need a shift modifier--Emails, passwords and Vim macros are even easier
- " is on 2! I don't normally use a British keyboard layout but when I do, the one thing I appreciate is the placement of double-quotation marks on 2.
Some things I don’t like:
- Underscore, one of the most important keys, is hidden far away next to shift! I might just remap this to where Hiragana/Katakana/Romaji is..
- I think the SpaceBar is also too small (though I might just need some time to adjust my hand there)
- Single quotation mark on Shift-7. It seems kinda pointless and maybe even a bit less natural when writing articles like this.
These are some changes that I don’t like being an English speaker, I presume that Japanese speakers don’t have some of these problems.
Day Two: [08/08/2026]
Today I’m quite busy but I have made a few changes. Firstly, I would like to
mention that I don’t like the + placement on the Japanese layout. I would
rather += and -_ be under next to each other as they are common keys when
programming.
And because I had such difficulties with getting to underscore, I decided to remap the Hiragana/Katatakana/Romaji key to underscore. It feels so much better than having to reach to next to shift!
I also had the delight of being able to play Minecraft with this keyboard today. I can’t really say much, other than it felt fine for gaming and didn’t get in the way. I also didn’t have any key rollover which is a plus.
Day Seven: [14/08/2026]
It seems I made three logs, not two; I didn’t feel the need to log the previous days or! Anyways, here is my conclusion:
Overall I’ve really enjoyed using this keyboard; despite being membrane, it has the perfect tactility, I prefer the layout and it’s much nicer than those 104 key keboards. For ~£15 I think it’s definately worth it and I hope to use this for years on.