All night long
20 years ago, I spent a long, memorable night in Tokyo waiting for a PlayStation 3.
20 years ago, I got my dream job, appeared on TV and was one of the first in the world to buy the hottest new video game console… all in the course of one memorable night spent sleeping on the streets of Tokyo.
It began with the odd decision to fly to Japan to line up with my friends for a PlayStation 3. I’m not entirely sure why I wanted to do this. I probably could have bought one in Hong Kong from my usual shop (albeit at a high price). But… somehow, it felt a bit like a rite of passage as a gamer to line up all night for a console. And if I was going to do that, well… I had to do it in Tokyo, right?
Ravi Hiranand
Besides, if there was any console to do it for, the PlayStation 3 had to be the one. The original PlayStation surprised everyone to dethrone Nintendo and Sega. The PlayStation 2 shattered records and remains the best-selling console of all time. Surely the PlayStation 3 would only continue Sony’s unprecedented run.
My friends decided that the place to be was the Tsutaya in Shibuya — best-known for hosting the famous Starbucks that looks over the ever-crowded Shibuya Scramble Crossing. We got there a day before launch and the staff ushered us to the rear stairwell where we’d line up and try to rest.
And then the waiting began.
I’d love to tell you that I came prepared, but I didn’t — and to be honest, I’m not really sure I could. I’m not an outdoors guy, so I didn’t pack like a camper. I had some food, I had some games, I had my laptop, but that’s about it.
At the same time though, it’s not like we were out in the woods: I was in the middle of Shibuya, the bustling heart of one of the most vibrant cities in the world. We were allowed to take breaks from the line to get food, and the people-watching was always entertaining. (I saw Paris Hilton pass by en route to… something. A store opening? Perfume launch? Something like that.)
And I had things to do. As night fell, I got a call from my boss. He offered me a promotion to producer, a job I’d coveted for a long time. For years I sat in the control room at CNN International, watching people put out live TV shows. The atmosphere felt electric to me; exciting, frantic, but also fraught with jeopardy, because live TV can fall apart at any time. And at the center of it all is the producer. A good producer is the eye of the storm: an oasis of calm amid raging winds. Everyone else might be panicking, but they’re not. They set the tone, they keep everyone on track, and when things go wrong they can think fast to whip out a backup plan on the fly.
I wanted to be that person. And now here was my boss, on the phone, offering me that chance.
We had a bit of a back-and-forth negotiation, and I couldn’t stand still for it; I paced around the streets while we hashed out the details. And in one of those weird cosmic coincidences that sounds too cheesy for a movie script, I’ll never forget where I was when the deal was done and I accepted my dream job: right in the middle of the Shibuya Crossing. I’ll never forget pausing, briefly, just to look around and take in the scene: people rushing, the bright building lights, and me beaming to nobody in particular, happy to celebrate this milestone in my favorite city.
I went back to my place with a spring in my step and a pile of takeaway for dinner… and then I realized there were still 14 hours to go.
The line experience, ultimately, felt a bit like a long-haul flight: it’s uncomfortable, you can’t sleep, and each hour seems to last longer than the previous one. But you forget all of it by the end, because it’s about the destination, not the journey.
That’s not to say it didn’t have its moments. I've stayed in touch with many of those Tokyo-based friends, bonded by our shared experience and our long chats through the night. I’ll always remember the little birthday party we threw for one of them on that cramped staircase. And, not being able to sleep, at 3am I sent a message to a colleague in London — and an hour later found myself doing a live interview on CNN about it.
(One funny note about that: it was a phone interview, and on CNN you need a headshot of the person to put on the TV graphic. But this was 2006, before the iPhone, so snapping a selfie and emailing it was harder than you'd think. I had a digital camera and other people had camera phones but we had no way to actually get the photos off them there on the stairwell. I can't remember how we managed it in the end, I just remember it being a huge hassle.)
Finally though, it was time. About 30 minutes before the official sales time, Tsutaya staff got us up and properly lined up. Our group was close to the front, but we weren’t actually the first: a guy dressed like a Tetsuya Nomura character bought the first PS3. We each bought ours and quickly went our separate ways. By the time I got back to the hotel I was shattered and passed out immediately.
After sleeping it off for a while, I went for a wander to see the PS3 pandemonium elsewhere. We were stuck in a line for hours; what was it like in other places? Given the hype, it must have sold out quickly. Seeing the aftermath should be fun; seeing disappointed gamers turned away because they didn’t have the foresight or fortitude to line up all night…
Hang on. Is that a stack of PS3s behind the counter at Yodobashi Camera in Yokohama?
Yup, they were actually readily available. I bought a second PS3 on the spot for my little brother. It took less than five minutes.
Turns out I didn’t need to wait all night for my PlayStation 3. But that night is one I'll never forget.
