There’s nothing the Japanese love more than a good ol’ retail freak out, and when over 1,400 people lined up outside the Tokyo Apple store on Saturday morning to snap at a chance to get an iPod mini, the ensuing mass hysteria traveled, wave-like, up the length of the snaking line to deposit itself paralyzingly in two men who stood at the front, right before the just opening doors. The 1,400 waited patiently as the two men, startled by the mass of camera-armed reporters waiting for them to step over the threshold, refused to enter the store. It took the guarantee that the two men would be able to buy the iPod minis they wanted (in their chosen colors, naturally) in anonymity before the pair stepped aside, letting the rush of less camera-shy buyers into the store to clear out Apple’s entire mini stock by four in the afternoon.
Also, in a mostly unrelated note, Apple has discovered that the best way to promote the iPod mini in Japan is to hire undead Western models to stare blankly into the distance.
