Resistant to change? Japan totally embraced Wii Fit, Brain Training et al before they arrived in the West. So that's not it.
I'm gonna propose the hypothesis that the reason Western games are unpopular is that Japanese people have had video games that are culturally relevant to them produced 'for them' for years and years. When your options are between that and a poorly localized western game that you don't identify with, you will usually choose the Japanese game.
I would say it's the same reason that Microsoft and games like CoD do better in the English speaking markets than non-English, where Sony typically has an edge.
The games that do best in both Japan and the West are the culturally neutral ones, and Nintendo are exceptionally talented at this. And I bet Retro will achieve quite some success with Donkey Kong Country too, because of this.
A game I'm developing with some friends:
www.xnagg.com/zombieasteroids/publish.htm
It is largely a technical exercise but feedback is appreciated.
