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.