Everyone knows how infamous Xbox 360 is in Japan, and how much Microsoft has tried to up their game over there though the majority of Japanese gamers didn't give much of a chance to them, though, some do own an Xbox 360 and play online. Amazon.co.jp is a great way of knowing by the reviews and orders that were made. More or less last month I created a Japanese Xbox LIVE account to download demos, videos and whatnot from the Japanese marketplace and noticed they had some very interesting exclusives, some were really boring like just pressing the button for more text but others actually pretty fun. So where does the problem possibly rely? From Bing's Japanese Amazon negative Xbox 360 comment he/she said this and I quote: "They're foreigners" If Microsoft were a Japanese company then things might've been different for them over there but they're a Western/American company so maybe based on that they're not willing to trust a foreign console/company. Because of so most of them are stuck to Sony PS3/PSV/PSP or Nintendo Wii/DS/3DS. What can I say? Sucks to be those guys who think like that, and Microsoft for not being able to gain the trust of the majority of Japanese gamers in Japan. Note: I have a "friend" (he's on my friends list, basically) on Xbox LIVE whom is Japanese and the kind of games: Halo: C.E. Anniversary, Halo: Reach, Race Driver GRID, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 (just some titles). It is wrong to say Japanese gamers only play Japanese games but then when you have people bashing a console for being done by "foreigners" there's not much justifiable to say in their defence. Maybe one day they'll get over the "foreign" thing and see how great Xbox 360 really is.
That's called being a fanboy and I hate that. I feel like every console is unique in it's ways and has it's own things to deliver. Wii > Incredible first-party games Xbox 360 > The all-in-one console thing (apps, ect...) and the Kinect PS3 > Blu-ray and some cool games too ( Just to list a few )
I think Microsoft are still doing a good job pushing it over there, its only really this gen that the 360 has realistically competed against Sony and Nintendo. Both have had a massive head start and appear to have built up a loyal fan base, especially in Japan. I imagine thats just the way the gaming industry is in Japan, all the major consoles until Microsoft came along have been by Japanese companies so maybe its hard for them to accept an American company can do something good? i dont know enough about Japan to say really. The 360 in Japan actually has some great exclusives though, especially Shoot Em Ups and Beat Em Ups. I created a list a while ago of all the Shoot Em Ups i knew of that were released in Japan (most exclusively). Thise games are pretty mad and it would be great of more of them got released outside of Japan. All that can be done is keep pushing the console and ensuring exclusives are got that appeal to the Japanese market.
There are about 100 Japanese-only Xbox 360 exclusives, so not catering to the fanbase isn't a valid reason as to why the 360 sells so poorly over there. Most people don't want to admit it at the risk of sounding racist, but the Japanese really do not like foreigners and their companies. Sure, they do embrace foreign ideas, but only after they've been converted to fit their ideals and traditions. Westerners who live there are also considered "visitors" even after obtaining citizenship. The above is my opinion based on indirect personal evidence and the majority opinion of the internet, afaik. I've never been there, so my input is very limited.
Sony and Nintendo clearly cover a larger base of games played by the Japanese. The only JP only games I like are some doujin and classic shooters and fighters, though some eventually appeared translated on the EU/US marketplaces. I think the best Microsoft could do to push harder is to convince (or buy ) Japanese studio's to do more exclusives. And besides, I've heard enough Americans saying they choose Xbox because it's American.