So far, I have read that Japan did ban mercury vapor lamps, but Japanese mercury vapor ballasts seem to still be made by Iwasaki even today specifically for metal halide and high pressure sodium retrofit lamps that are designed to run on the old mercury vapor ballasts.
That’s nice that they still make mercury vapour ballasts in Japan!😀
It is sad that they don’t really make mercury ballasts in other countries, but at least they still make them in Japan.