It amazes me that Wii U/Vita sales are almost completely the opposite

[Conina]

Japan is still the 4th biggest smartphone market. Behind China, india and USA, but ahead of every European country, Australia and South Korea.

So smartphones are not unpopular there. And the japanese smartphone owners love to use them and buy apps for them:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-12/japan-passes-u-s-as-top-app-spender-on-smartphone-penetration.html