On March 31, 2026, LeleLab announced on its official X account that it is developing Japanese layout keycaps.
Let’s take a look at the photos from the post.
Greenkeys wasn’t able to cover the booth, but it looks like they displayed the Japanese layout keycap samples shown in the photo on the day of Keyket.
They’re also running a survey about Japanese layout keycaps, and you can respond via the link below.
Japanese Layout Survey | LeleLab
One reason they’re running a survey like this is the printing situation unique to Japanese layouts.
Globally, the ANSI layout is the standard, and Japan is the only country in the world that uses Japanese layouts.
It can be counted as one of the local layouts like ISO-FR or ISO-DE, but looking at Japan alone, we believe the keycap-swapping culture itself hasn’t really taken root, and there also aren’t that many keyboards on the market that let you swap keycaps.
In addition, modern Japanese typing is mainly done via romaji input: you type Japanese readings using the Latin alphabet, then use an IME to convert them into kanji and so on. This whole typing workflow is a unique style that doesn’t exist in English-speaking regions.
As a result, we’ve learned through our past communication with overseas keycap brands and designers that even understanding what IME on/off (half-width/full-width) means can be difficult.
We’ll be keeping an eye on LeleLab’s new moves.
- First published: April 6, 2026
- Last updated: April 6, 2026
- Research method: Official social media posts
- References / Sources: https://x.com/lelelab_sh/status/2038933311305986220
- Conflicts of Interest: Product Offering: None Monetization Link in this paper: None
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