Earthquakes, a tsunami and a few nuclear meltdowns don’t seem to have cooled the ardor of Japanese Apple (AAPL) enthusiasts for the iPad 2, which launched Thursday after a five week postponement.

The first customers took their place on line at 8 p.m. Wednesday and withstood a night of heavy rain, according to the
Wall Street Journal
. A video posted on YouTube Thursday morning shows buyers lined up for three city blocks. Some were there for the white iPhone 4, which went on sale the same day. But most, according to the Journal, were there for the iPad 2.

The YouTube video is available here and below the fold. Note to videographer stevenagata: Next time, shoot from the front of the line to the back so we can see their faces.

UPDATE: The vodpod version of a second video, from NTDTV.com, is posted below steveagata’s.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adqc-K4DGOA]

[vodpod id=Video.7394483&w=425&h=350&fv=config%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fenglish.ntdtv.com%2Fp55config.xml%26amp%3Bfile%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fmedia5.ntdtv.com%2Fml%2Fenglish%2Fnews%2Fab%2F2011-04-28%2F20110428-AB-17_iPad2-Makes-Delayed-Japan-Debut.mp4%26amp%3Babouttext%3Denglish.ntdtv.com%26amp%3Baboutlink%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fenglish.ntdtv.com%26amp%3Bimage%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fenglish.ntdtv.com%2Ffiles%2FContent%2F20110428-AB-17_iPad2-Makes-Delayed-Japan-Debut.jpg%26amp%3Bautostart%3Dfalse]

Also on Fortune.com:

• Apple took 74% of the tablet market in Q1
• About Apple’s P/E ratio
• Apple clobbers estimates, iPad sales fall short

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]