Wii Hunt

In my efforts to find a Wii, it seems that everything Wii-related is available in abundance here in Japan - except the Wii itself. I did stumble across this amusing little notice in the Kobe Toys 'R' Us regarding the "defective" Wii remote straps. The notice points out that new model straps are available that are much stronger than the original, boasting a 1mm thickness instead of the flimsy 0.6mm - a whole 0.4mm improvement!

Needless to say this is one of the most pointless recalls in history. If the remote is flying out of your hand, you're doing it wrong. Who's willing to bet that one day those 0.6mm straps will fetch a nice price on eBay as collector's items?

It has been said that certain accessories are becoming hard to find in the US, especially the Nunchuk attachment. In many cases these are harder to come by than the Wii consoles themselves, with many gamers asking "Where are all the Nunchuks?" We have the answer - they are sitting here in Japan in their hundreds at the lowly Sofmap of Kobe! Just look at all those unused Nunchuks, and half the price of UK retail too. Below them you will also see the Classic Controllers sporting 5000 Wii points as a pack-in. Perhaps this is to make up for the lack of Wii Sports as an inclusive item with the Wii console in Japan.

In the end I still couldn't find a Wii, but I bought one of those sought after Nunchuks and a Wii Remote to tide me over. Now I can pretend to pretend to bowl!