We chat about videogames and videogame accessories.

BRP: Not being much of a gamer, I wouldn't know whether or not a made-in-Japan for-Japan game cartridge would work in a North American console.

IIRC, that depends on the system it's for. Some systems are region-locked while others aren't. If we're talking Nintendo, they apparently region-locked all their cartridge consoles except for the SNES (which can be easily modified to accommodate PAL and Japanese carts). They only started region-locking handhelds with the DSi.