Vintage is illegal in Japan from 1.April 2006

as I posted here is another article in matrixsynth blog:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2072754,00.html

what it says: there is no legal way in Japan to sell gear that has been made before 2000, so I don’t know how the Japanese ppl react to that fact. In our country we’d think of radical marketing laws that hopefully will not come in europe or the us..
perhabs they want to stop ebay also, since all the auctions will be „illegal“ like selling drugs or something.. btw: in japan yahoo auction is much bigger than ebay.. anyway..

it is hard to understand.. do you buys from japan now or never.. or privately, I am not sure who will check that ..

let me quote from matrixsynth:

A retailer will be allowed to pay to have items officially stamped with the PSE seal (like the British Kitemark). But the test can cost anywhere from £30 for a simple item such as a kettle to £300. Dealers will face up to a year in prison and a fine of about £500,000 if caught selling an un-tested vintage Les Paul guitar or a Space Invaders machine that has not passed its PSE. The Government’s abject failure to publicise the law has fuelled the public’s anger. Although it was passed in 2001 very few retailers of second-hand goods, let alone shoppers, knew until last week what it entailed.“

need I say more? this country is really strange.. you prone to be one year imprisoned just for selling an SH101 or something (coming from japan originally!)..

hmm, is japan still a free country? for musicians it isn’t! stop making music in japan or use newly bought gear only! maybe the most radical threat to use plugins instead of analog gear.. hope the pro-industry-lobby will not get that far here in the „free world“..

tell me: what is it good for exept to release lots of people into the arms of being unemployed or loose your jobs (musicians, electro-freaks and service technician or shops)..
sequencer.de is with you in nippon!! seems you need to stand up for synth rights or come to germany, we can make music and still use our old rolands and korgs freely..