NEC M-System keyboard

In 1983, NEC 日本電気 came out with a new keyboard and new Japanese input system, called M-system (M式 aka M-type).

M-system is designed by Dr. Masasuke Morita at NEC.

M-system is 2 things:

1. A efficient Japanese input system. It's a romanji input system. (you type English Letter then convert to kata (Japanese alphabet)) The English letter arrangement is optimized for either kana.
2. A physical keyboard design.

Note that the vowels {E, U, I, A, O} are all on the left hand home row.

Other M-system Designs

Over the years, there are several M-system keyboard designs.

NEC PC-8801-KI, 1983

NEC M-system, 1990

Reference

• [【NEC】 Keyboard based on new input system (M system) 2013-01-21 By Information Processing Society Of Japan. At http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/word/0027.html ]

Japan keyboards

Esrille New

Thumb-Shift, 1980

NEC M-system, 1983

TRON, 1986

NEC PC-8801-KI, 1983

NEC M-system, 1990

NEC PC-9801, 1992

Scythe Ergo Diver, ~2003

μTRON, 2007

1. Japan Input Method
2. Japan Keyboard Layouts
3. Hiragana Frequency Table
4. MSX Home Computer
5. SANYO Medicom MC-KM5600B
6. ALPS Kanji
7. Sukerutoron ST-2000