While its certainly no judge of how well its doing, Kinect is at #3 in the amazon.co.jp bestsellers list which is fairly impressive:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/videogames

Also with a review of 4.5/5 from 89 reviews its showing people are liking it. Saying that, although Kinect is in the best sellers list, the 360 is nowhere to be seen, so I guess its just the 1 million install base buying it rather than new customers.

Let me clarify.

I don't generally believe Americans buy the x360 because it is American but I have been around enough gaming forums to ascertain that SOME people buy it simply for that reason.

Anyhow my points are:

1) The next MS console will be no.1 in the NA. This is NOT A FACT but based on the growth of the xbox brand in NA any analyst will bet on this being the case.

2) When (if) this happens people will say the same thing about NA as they now do about Japan.You mentioned a whole lot of genres that the americans love, were these genres not on the PS2 when the americans loved it?? Are they not still on the PS3??? You make it seems like only X360 release such genres of games. What new experience? The only console with a new experience in a while was the wii.

3) Apple proves that the much believe bullsh*t that the Japanese don't buy American is just that, bullsh*t. Take one of their products, the ipod, for example. Didn't Sony release the Walkman and is the current crop of MP3 players not an evolution of that? Sony and other Japanese companies release MP3 players but can they live with the ipod? No.

FOR YEARS iPod was No.1 in Japan. Just recently Sony took the no.1 spot for the first time with a new walkman by a small margin, but this was just before the new lineup of ipods was about to be lanched.

How can a sane person say the Japanese don't buy American?? Why the hell do they buy Apple??

This "Japanese don't buy American" phrase is too conclusive. Just say "Japanese don't buy X360".

Even say "Japanese don't buy American unless it is Apple".

@tjallern

I suspect US forces sales will not figure in any Japan numbers as the consoles will for the most part be purchased on base in the PX/BX stores which will be outside the normal general retails loop and the bases may even be considered US Territory.

As for the demographic I suspect it is young people in general and for Kinect it would be familys and they can live pretty much anywhere. I take your point on the overcrowding of the 3 main cities it is just that averaged out the Japanese as a whole are not to badly off. I suspect if you live in Tokyo etc this is off little comfort.

That is not to say your point is not valid it probably is.

This logic is BS, mainly because Apple is extremely successful in Japan. Xbox just has a bad mainstream image there, the otakus love the console.

Yeah, Apple is pretty popular as far as the Ipod an Iphone go. But their computers dont sell well at all. Like the Imac. It blows my mind. It is cheaper than any of Toshiba or Sony's computers of the same screen size and IMO a much better product but nobody cares for it. As for the Ipad it is doing all right but has not had the success of the Ipod or Iphone. 

The Xbox and Xbox360 failed in Japan because they both did not catch on right away. Put it down to bad marketing, or the RROD or whatever. But once the Japanese shunned them initially they were doomed.  Japanese consumers simply bided their time until the Wii and PS3 were released.

SO how did Apple succeed where Microsoft failed? Product design. The Ipod and Iphone were simply the big new thing with a compact design and sleek, intuitive interface. The Japanese are even more tech obsessive than Americans, so they went and bought them up. The advertising was also very well done. Fresh and original.

I think the Imac only does poorly because of the OS and how Japanese are terrified of using anything that is different from Windows. But since the iOS for iphone and ipod was their first experience with a proper mini-handheld OS  a lot of Japanese just accepted it right away.

Kinect is new. It is attractive and engaging, but it is not suited for a lot of Japanese people because if their small homes. And I think many people who have Wii and PS3 dont see the point in getting another console just for Kinect. It will sell regardless but the 360 in Japan will never get the love it deserves in Japan.

you say it like its the best thing out there......hehe

but they need to hav specific games and originals

once the consumer has it in mind that this console has certian type of games his opinion won't change

360 already has a specific shooter look in people's mind

so until 720 comes with a new outlook and image,XBOX will continue to struggle in japan

and even then XBOX name would be the same

and it isn't just because of foreign country product

apple products sell well in japan even though it is a US product

I hope it does really well in that part of the world.