Oh if I know, the reason is called âgray zoneâ (also here called the same âgoo-ray so-nuâ) is because there is no clear law prohibiting or regulating poking people with needles.
It is illegal to sell or buy any type of needle, so no one can get their hands on syringes so easy without a medical license.
However, there are a couple of companies that produce one of the most famous piercing needles in the world, known for their sharpness, etc, etc. This company provides the needles to a specific association of professional piercers across Japan. (Also sell globally)
Now about that gray zone.
The law prohibits cutting someone else for medical purposes. But forgives cutting someone for aesthetic reasons as long as is not considered a medical procedure.
(Per example, ear piercings, belly button, nipples, etc, etc, etc). So as long as everyone is happy and safe there is no problem.
The moment someone has a bad procedure and complains to the police, they can come and accuse the piercer to have âperformedâ a medical procedure without a license. They basically keep it as a gray zone to donât deal with them and to be able to point the finger whenever they want.
As far as I know there is not even a license for piercers. And they are very careful of the procedures they offer. So, like @Pilgrimsmaster says⊠baby stepsâŠ
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Julio, I may have a solution to your needle importation problem in Japan:
Decades ago, there was a South American country (canât remember which - Peru perhaps) that forbade the importation of gun barrels. They wanted to protect the local manufacturing industry or something.
One very well known gun manufacturer found a workaround: they manufacturered two gunbarrels stuck end-to-end that they sold as âgun barrel preparation kitsâ, not subject to the import restriction. A local Peruvian gunsmith could freely import one of those kits, saw if off in the middle and file the muzzles clean to get two finished working gunbarrels.
DT could possibly sell a long metal tube with a deep slanted score mark in the middle in a sterile packaging. Grab the tube through the packaging with both hands, snap the tube in half, and voila: two sterile needles 
The only difficulty would be cutting the score mark just deep enough to leave almost no material, so itâs easy to snap off and wonât create a jagged edge once separated. But it wouldnât be a needle, so perhaps it would be importable in Japan.
Anyway, just a thought for a Japanese lawyer to consider I guessâŠ
Interesting approach. If it werenât a simple exercise to implant with a piercing needle we might explore something like that.
I was more thinking about the specialty 5mm needle that might be of value to import in Japan.
Maybe⊠but they have their own 4g needles as well. Not as long, but gripping with a forceps and manipulating it that way would work fine, especially for the new flex format coming⊠7.5mm wide and 28mm long, straight⊠no wedge shape.
Still dialing it in so nothing available yet with this antenna, but itâs gonna be superior robustness with the same performance. Apex Flex will definitely be on this new antenna system. Unfortunately only certain high capacitance chips can work with it so the magic chips are out.
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Interesting product. This looks like it maximizes the antenna area.
Just tell me itâs a copper coil and not an aluminum foil thing
Can a payment conversion use this arrangement, once dialed in?
I donât know where purewrist falls here
Also, are those the actual antennas, or just dummies for proof of concept?
Would that mean 0g needle? 
Stupid question that I didnât see in the needle thread surprisingly
Needle is 5mm, and flex wedge is 8mm
Am I missing some advanced needle geometry or?
You make a round hole with a diameter of 5 mm with a 5 mm needle. The round hole has a circumference of 5 x 3.14 = 15.7 mm. When you remove the needle, the pocket flattens out and ends up with a width of 15.7 / 2 = 7.85 mm. Close enough to 8 mm
I like your formula, but maybe I need my morning coffee to belive you.
The image is a little blurry but Iâm guessing those are thin PCB antennas? I am probably wrong about that.
Yep tiny little flex pcb antennas.
Yes rosco it will be copper unless they went to some crazy manufacturer 
It ainât âmyâ formula: donât you believe in the power of Pi?
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Not, if you know what I mean, but only because of lockdown.
Otherwise I would just watch.
But I thought the way the needle was going in at the angle it wasnât cutting a hole but rather a single slit?
Sigh
Needles are weird and confusing
Iâm just going to smile and nod at this point
You can install a chip with a with of about 8mm with a 4g needle. They say⊠I am yet to belive it, but you can watch this meanhile
Er⊠A cylindrical object is bound to make a round hole. It turns into a slit when you remove it and the round pocket collapses.
Thatâs what I originally thought in that other thread,
but there was the whole âitâs not just a holeâ needle cutting angles Etc
I give up lol
Skin is a weird and confusing organ, and needles only add weirdnessâŠ
Iâll just give the nice needle people, the things I want under my skin, and let them work out what needle magic needs to happen
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