Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox video-game console will be battling the biggest giants in the business when it lands in Japanese stores Friday, challenging Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. right on their home turf. "So tomorrow is the big day," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said late Thursday in Tokyo. "Tomorrow is the start of something not only very important to Microsoft but very important for the entire world of entertainment." Gates is in town to hand over an Xbox to the first customer in Japan at a morning countdown event in Shibuya, a district bustling with youngsters. Gates stressed that Microsoft was serious about the Japanese market.
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