The trade ministry will restrict exports of the highly popular PlayStation2 game machine because some of its components can be used to guide missiles. Under the law, a person who wants to export or bring out of Japan more than 50,000 yen in products that can be used for military purposes needs permission from the minister of international trade and industry. The list price of PlayStation2 is 39,800 yen, meaning that people wanting to export more than one machine must obtain the minister's permission. Violators face a maximum five-year prison sentence or a 2 million yen fine. PlayStation2 can be easily used for military purposes.
Regulation is unavoidable.
The machine's ability to process computer graphic images is almost equal to a small super computer, Ebata said. And the quality of its memory card is high enough to be used in missile guiding devices. Guiding devices often contain a camera on top to adjust the trajectory of the missile as it approaches its target. The device distinguishes differences between the actual view of target and an image that is digitally memorized in the missile's system. Our products face the regulation because we made the premier game machine.