Google's new Japanese keyboard design

Sure, the forthcoming iPad is the talk of the Internet, but Google Japan has its own hardware breakthrough ready to debut: a new keyboard design that matches the complexity of the Japanese language better than the standard QWERTY. While Google is better known for its software than industrial design, the company has a long history of floating a few trial balloons each year -- always on April 1 for some reason.

The encompassing keyboard design -- with six separate pads of kanji characters, a pad for emoticons and a giant Enter button -- puts every single standard-issue Japanese typograph at the users' fingertips. There are also floor pedals of unknown purpose.

As the pictures show on Google's blog shows, the proper way to input is akin to playing the drums. The design is incredibly efficient once you have memorized exactly where all the kanji characters reside on the panels.

Google Japan has yet to set a price or distribution channel for selling their new keyboard. We will stay tuned, but history suggests that come April 2, we won't hear much about this year's annual contraption launch. Must be some budgeting issue on their end.