One for Kevin

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More here:
http://www.43things.com/things/view/546922

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Dear friends and lovers,

If you are a musician, game nerd, computer geek or basically love
anything that has to do with electronic or audio devices, make sure
you read this.

On April 1st, Japan will be passing a new law called the "PSE Law"
which will illegalize the resell of synthesizers, music amps,
recording gear, analog / digital tape recorders, juke boxes, turn
tables, game components and other electronic devices (259 items total)
with AC adapters that were manufactured before 2001.

Yes, you heard! This basically means any sort of vintage electronic
devices will be banned from reselling in Japan; no more vintage music
stores, no more vintage sound!

The only way to go around this law is to resell these components with
"PSE-safe stickers". Since 2001, all manufactures have put these
stickers on all devices with an AC adapter, but for anything that has
been manufactured pre-2001, it will be close to impossible to get
these stickers on. You have to obtain a manufacture's license from the
government, then actually "fix" the device (even if there is no need
for maintenance…), have them inspected by the government authority,
then have another inspection by a 3rd party. Oh and to make the
matters even worse, if you get caught reselling these items without
PSE stickers on, you will be fined 100,000,000yen (=$1MIL). Needless
to say, most stores that sell vintage audio/music gear are planning on
pulling these "non-PSE-stickered" items off their shelves.

The reasoning for the law is to enforce safety with manufacturing of
all electronic devices, but according to government officials "the
safety guideline for manufactures hasn't changed that much since
1967". Then why? Why pass such law? It is rumored that there is some
sort of a dirty money connection between the government and few
companies who has already obtained their manufacture's license.

If you are a musician in Japan-
You will not be able to buy vintage amps, vintage synths, vintage
keyboards / organs, vintage samplers, vintage turn tables… etc

If you record music in Japan-
You will not be able to buy vintage tape decks (analog / digital),
vintage recorders, vintage mixers… etc

If you are a music fanatic in Japan-
You will not be able to buy vintage record players, vintage stereos,
vintage juke boxes…etc

If you are a gamer in Japan-
You will not be able to buy Atari, oldschool Nintendos, PlayStations…etc

Help out a fellow friend across the ocean. All of my friends back home
are completely devestated by this new law and started a petition. If
you love any music, movie, games, or anything that came out of Japan…
please take 30 seconds to sign this. Don't let the vintage sound
disappear from Japan!

Sign this petition NOW! Please spread the word…...
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/norikok/petition.html

Love,
Noriko Kaji

Sucks. Luckily most musicians I know here aren't too "hung up on the rules". This will drive sellers underground and prices for vintage amps up. I doubt that this law will be very easy to enforce.

A little clarification, but this is so far a nasty thing.
via boingboing.net:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/22/ja ... sale_.html

"you'll see that in the guise of "protecting consumers," this Japanese law
will limit the resale of used goods to giant retailers that presently make
all their money from new goods, while shutting out user-to-user sales of
electronics, pawn shops, market stalls, charity shops, etc. In other words:
the sale of used goods will be at the discretion of the companies that stand
to lose the most from the sale of used goods. "

Sign this petition NOW! Please spread the wordâ?¦...
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/norikok/petition.html

Love,
Noriko Kaji

Sign it!

Thats fuct!

Whoever decided to introduce this law is a real fucker de la madre

It's a bundle of joy for electronics companies though... everybody has to buy new stuff - hooray!!!

Expect to see folks trying to copy this in other countries if they get away with it in Japan.

Dunno about it catching on in other countries so easily. I mean on the whole your average Japanese consumer is more than happy to throw perfectly good stuff out every couple of years and buy newer models with all the bells and whistles. Graduations, weddings, moving into a new house are all occasions when quite often an inventorial overhall of one's appliances, stereos, TVs etc occur. Electronic goods are significantly cheaper here because so much of what is sold here is also manufactured here. Although the Japanese are reknowned for buying up a lot of the cool vintage gear, it's pretty much still a niche market but it could seem disproportionately larger due to the high population here. Most members of the the popluace wouldn't even flinch at this new law. Most non-Japanese consumers (of items not necessarily just musical) would tend to want to keep their items as long as possible due to the economical and environmental costs so it may be harder to introduce such a law outside of Japan.