Japan has always been a strange market for electronics and videogames, as they are the place where technology seems to rise or fall, and where many games are first launched so companies can judge their reaction. Now, there is an interesting article looking at the upcoming PS3 launch in Japan, plus a general look at how consoles and such are introduced to the market over there.

From the article:

I was browsing the Xbox 360 fan community for the Xbox 360 console this morning, in which a Japanese gamer living in America posted a picture of himself flashing the middle finger at a PlayStation 3 poster display in a Best Buy store. I saw this photo, and figured: this is as good a place as any to find violently interesting Japanese opinion on the PlayStation 3 launch.

After the first three dozen comments of "GJ" (Japanese Internet shorthand for "Good Job") were out of the way, the community surprised me by asking a thoroughly interesting question: "You know, come to think of it, I haven't seen a single PlayStation 3 advertisement yet in Japan."

The next poster commented on the PlayStation 3's small launch quantities, and concluded that, "Even more than when they launched the PSP, the PlayStation 3's launch is basically just a beta test."

Read the full article over at businessweek.com