Here's the story of how I got my Wii in Japan. FIRST, I JUMPED INTO A GUNDAM...
I was told that they weren't doing preorders at the nearby Toys R Us (as
I remember, there were lines for preorders at some places), and that I had
better camp out from like 11 PM till opening at 10 AM if I wanted to get
one. This sounded like a new and thrilling experience to me, since I have always
had the luxury of preordering new systems like 36 months ahead of time.
I scoped the place out the day before, and there were some signs up saying
that the limit of 140 was preordered, or somesuch. Dejected, I went back
home, and also groped some salarymen on the train.
One of my friends wanted to get a black DS lite (which is impossible to get
in Tokyo without preorders or scalped prices, it seems), so we decided to
head out at like 5:30 AM to check as many stores as we could for that and
Wiis.
There was a big line in front of the Toys R Us, so, hey, maybe we still had
a chance of getting one. We asked an employee keeping an eye on the line if
it was still possible without a reservation, and he said we sure could.
Probably. Then we waited four hours in the
not-freezing-but-still-pretty-damn-cold weather, and then death marched in
an orderly fashion through the checkout and service counter where we picked
up our goods. The store received 140 copies of Wii sports,
120 copies of Odoru! Made in Wario (Wario Ware: Smooth Moves), and then less than ten copies each
of stuff like Red Steel. I got Wario and an awesome three-year service plan
for only about five bucks. They asked me like three times if I didn't
want it. That's service!
So, I guess the sign about the number of Wiis reserved was the amount the
store was to receive. Or I was lied to. I was #47 in line, and the line was
definitely more than 140 people. And I am suddenly popular and amazing at
school now that I have one. One of the professors remarked that he saw a
bunch of Americans on TV pushing and screaming for them at the American
launch.
But I guess the best part about the Japanese launch is the the absence of
"Wii" jokes.