Amazon Japan is selling old PS3 models at nearly double the price of the new 40 Giga. Meanwhile used console buyback price for the old Playstation 3 models (20/60 Giga) has more than doubled in Japanese shops: from 15.000 to 40.100 Yen for the 20 Giga Model  (from this Japanese blogger). Actually the used price is the same price the shops charged one year ago for a new console... 
Seems that Japanese gamers value the retro compatibility with PS2 titles more interesting than Sony expected...


(Buyback price for a PS3 one year ago)