HHKB 30th Anniversary
Statement
Do you remember the first moment your fingers pressed down on the keys?
The smooth, soft rhythm of typing, dancing a beautiful melody of music and output.
That was the first experience, where your thoughts merged with the digital world.
Since then, how many words have you written?
How many lines of code have you crafted?
In the stillness of concentration.
Or in the action of intense development.
As computers have evolved, and everything around it dramatically changed, this "saddle" has always been right by your side.
Thirty years.
Three decades of a beautiful story we have shaped together, and you have written, one keystroke at a time.
From your first press, to the ones you type today,
and to the ones that will shape the future and further your story.
HHKB will continue to be your companion, your saddle that you ride off with into the sunset.
Message
The first HHKB was released in December 1996.
And now it is 30 years later.
It is remarkable that the same product has continued to be sold for over a quarter of a century.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to everyone at PFU who has continued to refine, manufacture, and support HHKB, and to the many users who have embraced its philosophy over the years.
For me, it began as a simple desire.
I just wanted a keyboard that I personally liked—something suitable for writing programs.
This was what drove me to make the proposal to PFU.
At the time, I thought I would be satisfied just having one such keyboard.
But little did I know, that was just the start. HHKB continued to evolve, from the birth of the Professional series, to the Type-S, to the HYBRID models that are offered today,
I was able to enjoy what I call, a very fullfilling "Happy Hacking Life."
As an engineer, years of thought, research, and experience has lead me to conclude this:
An excellent interface must be:
a) functionally necessary and sufficient, and
b) functionally beautiful, so that it is comfortable to use and admire.
The US-layout HHKB Professional fully embodies these principles.
With this single device, I have everything I need. It is the ultimate tool.
From the perspective of a programmer, a “beautiful program” should have the following qualities:
a) clear structure so that you can see how the problem will be solved, and
b) consistently written operations so that their function can be immediately understandable.
Revising, rewriting, refining--thinking things through again and again. This is a process that can be difficult,
but for me, typing with HHKB has brought me my greatest happiness through it all.
Thank you, everyone. Happy Hacking!
 | April 2026 Eiiti Wada Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo |
April 2026
Eiiti Wada