Running an Internet social interaction department at a company that operates entirely on the Internet is a daunting task. Not only do we have to maintain a presence on a multitude of social media networks, we also have to keep up some semblence of an activity cycle on our blog, and research new ways of reaching out to potential customers. Google Plus and Tumblr are current pet projects.

In addition to pushing our image out into the world, though, we also have to monitor what people say about us, and about the things that relate to us. To you who Follow and Like and Fan and Stalk us, we’re ambassadors of Japanese culture, society, and technology, and when we see some topic of discussion that makes waves among the bloggers around the world, we react. Not only is it a good way to ride on grassroots buzz, it’s also a good way to weigh in with our expert opinion – especially because we have access to product samples.

Elecom is a Japanese electronics peripherals company with a wide variety of products under its belt, including all manner of smartphone and media tablet cases and accessories, webcams, audio devices, keyboards, and mice. One of their collaborative art projects with Tokyo design house nendo was in the center of such bloggy attention: the half-rendered stealth bomber five-button mouse called the Orime, after the Japanese word for creases and folds in paper. Almost all articles, blog posts, and their comments praise the interesting design of the body, but criticizes the horn on the rear of the mouse, which points straight into the palm of the hand. Usability fail! It must be terrible to palm!

So we requested a sample from Elecom. This is what we got.

This is the Kasane, also by Elecom, also in the same series of computer peripherals designed by nendo founder Oki Sato. It’s also an interesting shape – designed in the image of a stack of geometric shapes (kasaneru being the verb form to stack), and I was actually hoping to sample it too, though I wasn’t too keen on pushing my luck.

The Kasane mouse takes a little getting used to, because the haphazardly-stacked piece at the back of the mouse digs into the base of your thumb if you’re holding it wrong^TM. However, it doesn’t take long to get used to, and the matte feel of the curved surface of the mouse is quite comfortable to use. The oddly-shaped 4th and 5th buttons also don’t feel weird at all. People with big hands and people who hug their mice with their palms may have problems with this mouse, as its profile is a bit on the compact side.

We finally got the Orime a couple days later. This mouse is somewhat larger than the Kasane, putting it in the class of mice populated by wares from Microsoft and Logitech meant to be held in a full-bodied hug. However, this means that that horrid horn on the back will be that much more painful to bear, which would lend more credence to the haters.
You know those hand massaging devices that poke an appendage into your palm that feels like it’s about to burst out the back of your hand? I was honestly expecting that sensation when palming the mouse. The reality is not that bad – although there was an initial rearranging of the elements in my palm in order to accomodate that horn, the horn is not a horn so much as it is a bump – not pointy, not massaging, not at all odd. I quickly forgot it was there, and in fact I miss it now that the samples have gone back to Elecom. The surface of the mouse is rather plasticky, though – especially compared to the matte finish on the Kasane. The plastic surface of the Orime reminds me of the sides of Lego bricks, sans the Lego nubs – maybe those thinner pieces that cover the nubs.

The mouse has endured almost in its standard shape – two buttons and a scrolly wheel in a paunch-shaped body – with deviations mostly related to portability or ergonomics. Gaming mice are adorned with more buttons than their surface area allows for. Design-oriented mouse designs, like the Orime or the Kasane, may be the next step in the micro-evolution of the mouse design, although the radical designer should not completely sacrifice usability and ergonomics for the perfect design.

By the way, do people prefer Bluetooth mice or non-standard 2.4GHz transmitters? I used to think Bluetooth was the way to go, and in fact lambasted the fact that they only exist in the higher price ranges, but I realized there could be a case to be made for mothermice with baby USB transmitters: they connect almost immediately.

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