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Japan's Gaming History Now Safe
An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian today has covered the final part of the ongoing saga regarding the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law in Japan. Thankfully, the law has been almost reversed allowing the continued sale of second hand electrical goods (including games consoles)." From the article: "The Japanese secondhand electrical goods market was officially estimated last year to be worth around £500m ... The government probably hoped the law would go largely unnoticed and bring a variety of benefits. By taking the money out of the secondhand market and injecting it into the market for new goods, regulation (of old products) and revivalisation (of the economy) would be achieved in one fell swoop. On paper, anyway. In practice it was rather different."
must we citizens fear the power of the officials we elect? I have seen stupid shit like this the world over. Doesn't matter whether it's in the U.S., Africa, Europe or Asia, we all have to deal with it (Notice how I don't mention the Antarcticans. They brought it on themselves. Whatever that means.) We constantly have to fight stupid laws either intended to have a good effect (but on closer inspection wouldn't), or laws simply intended to pad someones pocket. There's NIMBY, astroturfing, you name it. It's a big freakin' tragedy of the commons. Oh well, at least I have the right to openly critisize my government. Oh, wait, I'm only allowed to critisize elected officials if I don't whine. That's a bit open to interpretation. Am I whining now? Nah, probably no)O(&==)(/&[CARRIER LOST]