Good point. But that can be explained by the Nintendo and Sony brand probably being too strong for the Japanese gaming public to convert that easily to another "unknown" console. 360 almost tripled the original Xbox's userbase if I'm not mistaken, which suggests that the Xbox brand is growing with all these Japan-oriented titles.

in the long term that will hurt as nintendo and sony will always be able to be competitive and have a save haeven which XBOX doesn't have

Thats quite simply not true though.  There are TONS of Japanese franchises that are massive in the West.  Pokemon, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Demon's Souls just to name a few.  Not to mention companies like Capcom, Konami, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Sony have all had huge successes in the West.

There isn't the same standard in Japan.  You can't name me 5 western franchises this gen that have sold over 1 million copies in Japan.  Japanese gamers litteraly have words they use in derogitory ways towards Western games, and for years and years now they have seen them as inferior.

This isn't meant to be a slight at the Japanese they're cool as hell its just simple facts.  Japan has a negative bias towards the Western developed games that isn't debatable and the Japanese will be the first to admit it.

I am unaware of any Western-bias in Japan but I've never been there, so perhaps you're right. Did not know that though. Where does this aversion come from?

Microsoft where and will continue to be victims of the Japanese Market and its evolution away from strong home consoles sales aided by strong portable sales, toward portable sales dominating and not having the same synergy that you had with home being seen as the leader. Another thing that has been written about is the cultural issues involved in gaming affecting 360 it is a problem faced in the EU - NA markets but it pales when compared to Japan, the dominate player for decades in video gaming and at the time of the 360's entry a duopoly with its ear finely tuned to its home market, They thought that jrpg's would do the trick and in some ways it did, alas the continued rise of portable gaming and entrenched opposition and rising development cost for seventh gen rpg's meant that many developers instead of following LO ,FF etc. onto the 360 either as multiplat's or exclusive headed to the DS/PSP ,and they didn't having a portable to catch these games.
Still they have made inroads just has the X box did in EU/NA a Gen before and so I think they will continue to fight the fight.

You don't get to say whats debatable and whats not.

Japanese gamers do not like western games. Simple as that! If they wanted to play a western game they would, im sure they not not buying western games just because its from the west. Thats insane to even suggest that (which is what you suggesting).

And yeah i too have never been to japan and i dont know many japanese friends, and there probably is a minority group of japanese gamers who think that of western developed games, but it certainly isnt the masses who share those views imo.

lolwut? If anything there has been multiple rumors of a new XBox shown at next E3, so that would mean late 2012/sometime in 2013.

It makes sense to reduce stock of the 360s, but killing off the brand entirely? Dumb move, as even at the smallest amount of sales the 360 is needed in Japan to support those few japanese developers that make games for it. Deathsmiles was an example of niche Japanese title that has done well for the 360 in the US and Japan.

Really?  Listen educate yourself and research before you try to argue.  I don't base this on opinion its simple fact.  Again this is NOT a slight towards Japan I love the country and culture but they simply have little respect for Western games going as far as calling them Yo ge, kuso-ge on a regular basis which in Japanese directly translates to "Western Game, shit game."

But you know what don't take my word for it.  Let's here directly from prominant Japanese people themselves.

Wada from Square-Enix said "The retailers have a prejudice against overseas titles, and they won't procure them. But something like Batman: Arkham Asylum, for example, is something that is very like the Japanese taste in games, in fact it caters to very much the Japanese taste."

Gwyn Campbell who works for a Japanese publisher in Japan said   “Japan’s never been very receptive to foreign games, the term ‘foreign game’ is traditionally an insult — it means ‘low quality.’”

Kojima has also discussed that Japanese gamers generally don't even give Western games a chance.  Its plain and simple they have a bias against foreign games.  They like what comes out of Japan nearly exclusively and that IS a bias.  Look at every single most wanted list in Famitsu and the rest of their publications.  It is always nearly exclusively Japanese titles and sales as I have pointed out speak for themselves.

He said "Like to play with". I think he would reply you with the argument that both Apple and MS can sell their other platforms in Japan (namely iPhone and Windows OS). Meaning that not all the western gaming platforms are a failure in Japan.

The other problem is MS hasn't pursued any JRPGS as of recent for Japan. Star Ocean 4 moved over 210k units as a timed exclusive on the 360. Blue Dragon had *PEOPLE BUYING ARCADE BUNDLES JUST TO PLAY THE GAME!* and also sold 210k units in Japan. Outside of Idol Master, what was the last big selling game on the 360? I couldn't find any 2010 sales data for the 360 in Japan.