Mutantfrog

I'll take one

Voop

Kevin-you're just being ridiculous. That claim might make sense for appliances like washing machines, refrigerators, rice cookers etc that are all affected by this law- but come one. Do you seriously think that anyone is going to rush out and buy a PS3 because they can't find a used Famicom disk system? That's delusional.

Jeff, my later posting makes it clear that video game machines are potentially affected. The problem is that many sources are not indicating that it's an issue of inspecting individual items for resale. Technically there are no categories of banned items - ANY item can be sold as long as it passes the safety tests. Undoubtedly there will be products that are much more difficult to sell, and the law will very unfairly limit sales of certain kinds of collectible vintage music and gaming equipment, but even in the very worst case it will probably be possible to upgrade old equipment with a modern power supply and plugs so that it can pass certification.

Try reading our second post on this issue, that also discusses AC adapters:
http://www.mutantfrog.com/2006/02/22/straight-from-the-horses-mouth-meti-explains-stance-on-secondhand-game-consoles/


Also, the original article I wrote my post in response to made a wild claim that all second hand electronics would be illegal. It made no note of the certification requirement, or the fact that foreign sales are completely unrestricted. I believe that particular article was thoroughly debunked.

I was rather alarmed when I first read this, but it seems that you are being overly alarmist. I've written a blog post explaining why here:http://www.mutantfrog.com/2006/02/22/2nd-hand-electronics-sales-will-not-soon-be-illegal-in-japan/

And an Asahi Daily article about this new law can be found here:
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200602210407.html