WTB: 12" Powerbook Japanese keyboard

[GridReaper]

I'm buying a Powerbook in the US (to save a few hundred $$$), but I am going to have to replace the US keyboard with a JIS-English one.

Any sellers?

[Steve Bildermann]

No harm in first asking if the seller or Apple US will put one on for you as a replacement.

[Caustic Saint]

When are you going to be arriving in Japan? Believe it or not, you may get a sligtly better deal if you buy one in Japan. The stock price for the 12" Superdrive in Japan is about $175 higher than the US price. However, if you're going to be in Japan before Sept. 30, they have a double your memory deal going on at the Japan Apple Store online.

On the 12" Powerbook you can bump it up to 512MB for 5,000 ~ $43. Compare that with the $100 cost for the same thing at the US Apple store and you've saved $57. $175 (higher initial cost) - 57 (savings in RAM) = $118.

How much do you think you're going to find that Japanese keyboard for?

[GridReaper]

[Taro Toporific]

I am going to have to replace the US keyboard with a JIS-English one.

Any sellers?

Why bother? The 40 Japanese DTP ladies working for me just touch-type in Romanji (90+ wpm) and do the henkan key. They say switching back and forth between US and JIS keyboards just slows their top speed in Japanese or English. Of course, they all learned to touch-type in Romanji and I assume you did too.

(I'd gladly swap my JIS keyboard on my spare iBook but you need a Powerbook one.)