Something had to be wrong. I kept telling myself that maybe the Xbox 360 was selling out right and left at other stores. Maybe it was just the people in Den-Den Town and symptomatic of how a big chunk of the country feels. I hopped on a subway train and headed up to Umeda. Next stop: Yodobashi Camera.

Trains from nearby Kobe and Kyoto converge in Umeda, and the population of the Kobe-Osaka-Kyoto metropolitan area was over 17 million. If the Xbox 360 were going to sell out some place in Kansai, this would be the place.

Yodobashi Camera is a five-story plus city block of electronics, cameras, restaurants and video games. The retailer had been pumping the 360 for weeks with fliers, posters and even having all HD TVs loop 360 demos. The PSP sold out here within hours on launch day last year. Same's gotta be true for the Xbox 360.

The store was packed with carts upon carts of 360s. It was unreal. I asked a clerk if he thought they were going to sell out on launch day, and he replied "probably not."

"What about tomorrow?"
"I don't know."

Note: the following pictures were taken of the stock at the Yodobashi store at around noon. They are not taken of the same carts, but of different 360 carts placed in various locations behind the counter.

If you didn't get an Xbox 360 or paid some ridculous amount on Ebay, just know that there are oodles and oodles of unopened 360s here in Osaka. How's that for a shortage.

Learn about Osaka [Wikipedia]