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TOKYO--In the United States, Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console has been so popular, it is hard to keep on store shelves.

But in Tokyo's neon-drenched Akihabara neighborhood, known as Electronics Town, there are plenty of the sleek white machines to go around, if you can find takers.

At Yodobashi Camera, an eight-story electronics department store selling everything from hair curlers to home computer servers, a small corner display of Xbox 360s draws little attention from passing shoppers.

It is not hard to figure out why. Lined up on a rack near the display are the only nine games sold for Xbox 360. But behind it are some 3,000 games, spread across six store aisles, for Microsoft's biggest rival here: the Sony PlayStation 2.

"Xbox doesn't even have 'Gran Turismo'," said Shun'ichi Moriizumi, naming a popular auto-racing game. One of the few shoppers to stop in front of the Xbox display, Moriizumi, a 22-year-old university student, said he came to see the Xbox 360, which went on sale here Dec. 10, 18 days after its debut in the United States.

"I like the graphics," he said, "but I'm not going to buy it, at least not today. I'm waiting until the new PlayStation comes out before deciding which to buy."

That appears to be a common sentiment in Japan, the world's second-largest video game market after the United States.

The Xbox 360 had a disappointing opening day in Japan. During the first weekend the Xbox 360 was in stores, Microsoft sold 62,135 of about 159,000 machines shipped, or about 39 percent, according to Japanese market research company Enterbrain. That pace was even slower than in 2002, when Microsoft introduced its earlier Xbox model in Japan, where it was considered a flop.

Microsoft was hoping to make a bigger splash this time, not just because of the market's size here but also because of Japan's importance as a proving ground for new products.

Japan is, after all, home to Microsoft's two biggest rivals in video games, Sony and Nintendo, and its software companies write many of the games played worldwide, from "Super Mario Bros." to "Final Fantasy." Winning over Japan's finicky consumers, who are known to reject games for seemingly minor shortcomings in performance and appearance, represents a coveted seal of approval, analysts say.

So far, Microsoft has failed the test. As of June, the latest data available, 470,000 Xbox machines have been sold in Japan, versus 13 million in the United States, according to market research site Famitsu.com. That gave Xbox a mere 2 percent slice of the 22 million game machines sold in Japan. By contrast, Xbox had a 25 percent share of the 52 million machines sold in the United States, according to Famitsu.

Analysts say the biggest hurdle the Xbox 360 faces in Japan is the dominance of Sony and to a lesser extent Nintendo. Sony has 81 percent of the Japanese market; Nintendo has most of the rest, according to Famitsu. Worldwide, PlayStation's market share is about 68 percent; Xbox is in second place, with 17 percent; and Nintendo has the rest.

Microsoft had hoped to steal a march by rolling out its next-generation Xbox game machine ahead of its two Japanese rivals. Sony plans to sell its newest game console, PlayStation 3, in the spring, though the company will not say exactly when. Nintendo says it will release its new console, Revolution, in 2006.

But Microsoft's strategy does not seem to be working, analysts say. One problem they note is that Microsoft introduced Xbox 360 before there was much game software to play on it. That makes the Xbox 360 less attractive next to the vastly larger number of games available for PlayStation.

Microsoft says more games are in the pipeline, including the latest version of the popular "Dead or Alive," which is supposed to go on sale here later this month. "We didn't have a rocket start," said Asako Miyata, a spokeswoman in Japan for Microsoft. "But we see sales steadily picking up as more games become available."

Analysts say, however, that even when more games appear, Microsoft may have trouble luring first-time buyers because of the need to replace their game software libraries. Because so many consumers now own PlayStation 2, it would be easier for them to wait for the arrival of PlayStation 3, which would be able to play all their current games.

"Sony has such a high penetration rate," said John Yang, an electronics analyst in Tokyo for Standard & Poor's ratings agency. "It is not uncommon for households here to have two or even three PS2s," he said, referring to the current PlayStation model. "Why would an entire household want to switch to Xbox?"

Takashi Sudo, a manager for the video game department at the Yodobashi Camera store, said several hundred people showed up for the opening day of Xbox 360 at his store. But he said he expected a crowd at least five times as large for the PlayStation 3 debut in the spring. For that, he says, he will need to set up a line of special booths to handle the crunch.

"This is Sony's country," Sudo said. "Xbox has to break into a market that Sony built."

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