Retro Tech, Unplugged

Japan's otakuthe moniker given to its legions of nerdy pop-culture obsessivesare mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore: the government is trying to outlaw some of their favorite vintage video games. On April 1, Japan's Product Safety of Electrical Appliances and Materials Law (PSE), designed to prevent electrical fires, will prohibit the resale of 259 types of electrical goods made before April 2001including some of the most coveted video-game machines. "It's stupid," fumes retro gamer Hiroshi Yamano, while shopping at the Super Potato secondhand-game shop in Akihabara, Tokyo's nerd mecca. "Who do they think they are...