Overseas keyboards - available in US?

[Dekimasu]

I live in Japan and have grown used to Japanese keyboards over the past several years. I want my next laptop to be a Mac, but I'd rather pay the US price than the Japan price. (The yen has just hit 100 to the dollar, so the Air is at a about a 500 dollar premium over here.)

Is it possible to order a Mac computer in the US with a nonstandard keyboard? I can have it shipped to my parents there and then pick it up later. It doesn't seem to be possible in the online store, but I don't think I should need to pay 500 bucks to get a "normal" keyboard.

 

[balamw]

Apparently not, in the US keyboard choices are US or Spanish and that's it.

A co-worker tried to get one with a German keyboard and was told that it was not possible.

Obviously this isn't a problem for iMacs, minis or Mac Pros, but for all the portables it can be a pain if you can't live with the US KB.

B