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Japan to Discourage Sale of Old Electronics
devphaeton writes to tell us Engadget is reporting that after April 1st (no this is not an April fools joke) the sale of old electronics in Japan could become much harder. From the article: "It seems that Japan's government revised its "Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law" back in April 2001, and added a stipulation that items authorized under the country's old law (the "Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law") couldn't be sold anymore, but granted those products a five-year grace period. Well, if you check your convenient wall calendar, you'll see that the five-year period is about to end, which means that as of April 1, pretty much any electronic gear sold before April 1, 2001 can't be legally resold in Japan." The article also mentions that sellers can continue to sell old gear providing they get certification that the items conform to modern safety standards.
So if people can't resell the stuff, I'm willing to bet alot of it will end up in the garbage. And I'm sure most of what ends up in the garbage won't be disposed of properly.
"22 astronauts were born in Ohio. What is it about your state that makes people want to flee the Earth?" Stephen Colbert
This is ridiculous. Why stop the resale of old electronics? Electronics IMPROVE over time - why stop the resale of old ones?
As technology is phased out, it is hard to get unless resold - i.e. the Famicom. So you can't buy an old electronic?
Buying older games for my N64 doesn't provide any competition to my buying of games for my Xbox 360. The N64 is different, and I can get classics for it. I can get better (looking) games for my 360.
My point? Old electronics don't compete with new ones. To stop resale could kill older collectibles, like older video game systems or old formats (VHS, or in a few years, DVD). Heck, it could even kill formats...
This is rather disheartening news. One of the most wonderful things about Japan is its thriving second hand market, and I for one spent an awful lot of money in shops like Sofmap, mostly on Mac stuff.
:s
It all seemed to work so well. The Japanese have, to put it mildly, something of a penchant for things shiny and new, so what they toss out would be regarded by Westerners as nearly new. So rather than putting all this nearly new stuff to waste, they sell it to shops like Sofmap, who sell it on to people like me, who are quite happy with a nearly new bargain. Contrast that with, say, Britain, where, the mobile phone market excepted, we make the most of our computers and such - the term the Japanese use is tsukaikomu.
It's not as though this is going to net the computer companies much more profit - people buy new things anyway, as stated above.
Shame. I had hoped to net myself a Flower Power iMac next time I was out there...
iqu
Dumped Japanese consumer electronics. Buy Now!
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
thing is in the last decade or so (possiblly longer i'm unsure when this started) most consumer electronics has become so complex and/or miniturized that you don't stand a chance of figuring out whats going on without a circuit diagram or a lot of electronics knowlage.
what did you take apart that taught you a lot about electronics?
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
What's the deal here? This hardly seems like news.
So, electronics that were authorized under the old guidelines cannot be sold... unless the conform to the new. Anything that is safe can still be sold!
Grammar Nazi
"We can't pee in our drinking water forever. "
except that water has already been peed in.
Seriously, how is taking all the old equipment and througinh it away going to help? I am all for finding cleaner ways to do things, but you can't take back the lead and mercury already in components.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Really, this is no different to what Japan's been doing with its auto industry for the past several decades. It's a brilliant way to keep the economy falsely-buoyant by forcing a perpetual upgrade cycle.
Except you damn well can sell a 69 Mustang. And register it. And drive it. In CT you get a nice little plate with a picture of a Ford Model T on it and you get certain exemptions and so forth. Which explains all the old unsafe at any speed horribly polluting cars at the weekend cruise nights owned by the upper middle class people who typically vote Democrat and are in favor of those laws against unsafe and polluting cars. As long as they aren't theirs. They also tend to drive huge honkin SUVs during the week. In that attrocious color known as Hunter Green.
What can you do?
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
It's ironic that they treat old people differently from old things? Perhaps it's your own cultural norms you should be concerned with.
Left wing Right wing, not important.
That everyone agrees big, fuel guzzling, small car crushing vehicles shouldn't be on the road (let alone truck excemptions for SUV's in the U.S. [under Bush renewed I might add (Thank you Soccer Mom Vote's for Republicans)]).
No one wants em on the road, no group can be faulted as long as they are ashamed that the act took place and are making actions to rectify the situation.
Why should others have to change their behavior to suit you?
Because it's not about suiting "you", it's about suiting "the planet", and everyone else you share it with (NB: you are not the centre of the universe)
Only an idiot would say that.
First of all, if you've been around the country at all, you'd know that the large majority of in-use pre-80s cars are in RED STATES, where money is scarce, fixing up a "muscle car" is the only hobby in town, and NASCAR reins supreme.
The same is true about SUVs, trucks, etc. Red States are far, far, far more rural, have far less traffic to be concerned with, and have lots of agrculture, construction, and other blue collar jobs, where people have uses for trucks and SUVs. Gasoline is significantly cheaper, and pollution regulations are, well, just about non-existant. Plus there's that whole "snow" thing. I've got dozens of family members and inlaws in the red states, and they don't have a post-1970 car among them. In fact, the men (and kids) all have pick-ups (some old, some new), and the women all have SUVs.
Besides, the fact that a few people, who might be democrats, happen to drive polluting cars, doesn't necessarily make them hypocrits, at all. Hell, if you had to support EVERYTHING a political stands for, just being poor and voting Republican would make you a hypocrit. Being anti-abortion and voting democratic would make you a hypocrit. Being non-white and voting Republican would make you a hypocrit. etc.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
If you don't like people driving bigger vehicles than you, get a bigger vehicle yourself.
Perfect logic, if only the people hating on you were doing so simply because they're jealous of the volumetric size of your vehicle.
Reminds me of smokers who get defensive about people that find their habit disgusting and take measure to do something about it. As if it's not that the people don't dislike smoke blown in their face. Oh, no. They do it because they enjoy taking away the smoker's liberty or because they want to personally attack people who are different than them. Right.
Surely you aren't wanting to destroy a piece of living history are you? Lord, give it a break. It isn't like there are tons of these old 'polluter' cars on the roads these days. Certainly, a few of them driving around on the weekends isn't even making a DENT is the pollution of the atmosphere...or a chief cause of 'global warming'.
Hey, old 110+ year old houses aren't efficient nor insulated properly, and waste energy. Should we bulldoze them to build new, shiny efficiency housing for poor families?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Connecticut is an interesting place. They are generally regarded as liberal, yet they have a Republican governor who has the highest approval of any governor, and a war hawk Democratic senator who may not win re-election. I'd say that it's not safe to make blanket assumptions about the political leanings of the state's population.