Kotaku has got pictures of several stores in Japan with sold-out signs on their "Demon Souls"-games.

http://kotaku.com/5147816/ps3-exclusive-demon-souls-is-selling-out

So, is the game really popular or was the shipment just low?

well its sell through was 80% for 1st day only which means its selling out

Yeah but there's a report of first day sales at 23k level which would mean demand for game was underestimated by shops or publisher.

I think software didn't expect this XD

And famitsu gave this one 29/40 (or so I have read somewhere) like they gave WKC. Do japanese gamers take 29 as their lucky number.

I think it shows that even if 360 have had all the RPGs with the good scores from famitsu (TLR 38 from famitsu), japan is still behind the ps3 when it comes to  HD RPGs.

Does anyone know how it did first day.

Seems to be little of both actually. Its seems like the initial shipment was only 30,000. So it's is selling well and its shipment is low.

Shipment too low.. btw can Japan get another shipment over the weekend.. and can the first week sale be over 30K.?

80% sellthrough on the first day. Shipping such low amounts of thsi game is an extremely bad move by Sony.

Sony doesn't decide how many units are shipped for launch. The retailers do and they sometimes overestimate or underestimate a game. It happens occasionally.