Poor international adaptation all around.
No Japan-based studio.
No Japan centric first party games.
Only good jrpgs were new IPs which typically don't sell.
ONLY Jprgs for the eastern market, when Japan has many genres that we don't see in the west.
No investing in Japanese branding or marketing (or should I say effective brand/marketing)
No alternate sized controller.

It's really not hard to effectively adapt to another culture, but it requires changes that MS didn't see fit to make.
Nintendo and Sony are very Japanese systems that sell well worldwide because the Japanese doesn't get in the way. Xbox is a very American console, and Japan doesn't like it because the American gets in the way.

Where did they get the numbers from sales of the original X-Box from it didn't sell 2 million units, based on that the article is pretty much bs.

When they see the Xbox 360, they think American PS3. End of story. Theres a lot of product nationalism in Japan. They essentially offer the exact same things and the only company that stands out for itself is Nintendo, so they have no need to support the outside. Microsoft gives them no reason to. Its not like westerners who pick apart little things to differentiate one console from another. If you don't bring something new to the table with the Japanese they dont care. Essentially speaking, if they want to break down the walls of Japan, stop making a safe console, be more like Nintendo (not exactly like them but think outside the box).

They'll never make headway in Japan, they just won't buy an American console when they have Sony and Nintendo alternatives.

And while people have said in this thread that MS enjoys the same benefit here, well no, they really don't. A Japanese console is the #1 console in the US. And even though 360 beats PS3 in the US, at least the PS3 is still at a great 25 million+ or whatever. A far, far cry from the Japanese market.

And that market is becoming more and more irrelevant so it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see MS just ignore it next gen. Then again, they do have tons and tons of money.

Japan is  the cheapest place to ship to beside mainland China where consoles are banned so I there is no reason why they shouldn't bother with Japan the 360 is in markets with much higher shipping costs and a lot of less potential costumers then Japan.

All the focus on western gaming has forced the Japanese consumer to focus on handheld gaming outside of Nintendo. They are the largest buyers of the 3DS. If Sony would focus on half western/half Japanese centric things they would sell like hotcakes. Microsoft needs to differentiate themselves from Sony if they want to make any headway in Japan.

That's not really true though, because the Japanese love foreign things and culture. It just has to be presented correctly. The japanese love english tea and fashion companies. They love Dolce and Gabana, they love McDonalds, they love Apple, they love T.G.I. Fridays, and they love Hard Rock Cafe.

Japan needs dedication. Like I said, MS has no Japanese developer studio. They make no Japan centric games. Like someone said, a peeping game for Kinect...the problem is that Japan sees xbox as an arrogant company, and for the most part, they are, in terms of the xbox product. Windows sells fine over there. The problem is they didn't try hard enough. Just throwing money at the problem does do anything. You need to be invested.

I do think domestic fanboyism is an issue, but that alone isn't enough of a reason. A product can be made by any company but it can still appeal to foreign countries. What Microsoft failed to do with the Xbox 360 is explain why they should get the Xbox 360 instead of the PS3.

A Japanese gamer would say, Xbox 360 has Final Fantasy and Resident Evil? Cool but I'm already planning on buying a Playstation 3. Does it have anything else?

So IMO, to a Japanese gamer, the Xbox 360 is the "me too" console.

IMO the negative perception of the 360 wasn't that it was a me too console. The problem was that to an average Japanese gamer, MS strolled in with a too big controller, and said you will buy this even though we have no games that suit your tastes. Oh, you like JRPGs? Solved *throws money at the floor in front of foreign developers*. You like other types of games? You Japanese are never satisfied.

That's what the perception of xbox is. The people who buy xbox over there, are the ones that like american games. Sony treats Japan like it treats america and europe. It makes games tailored to all three areas, and makes sure they concentrate on all of them. MS is just an American focused game developer who buys off what they think is popular. Buying exclusivity only further creates negative view as gamers say, "oh thanks MS for stealing games".

All they need to do is create a Japanese studio, focus on making Japanese games, secure multiplats on most japanese games, offer a slightly smaller rechargeable controller.

Xbox would be a "me too" console if they could secure multiplats, but they've chosen not to do that. They'd rather buy a couple exclusives and leave the rest to luck. McDonalds changed their entire recipe line aside from the BigMac. They're successful in Japan. They changed how the customer is serviced, they changed the menu, they changed the style of the place. It's still extremely McDonald's, but just tailored properly. They didn't go in with all their American menu, then buy off Asahi to be McD exclusive, and have the same upfront direct service.

MS copies the PS3 even when they launch first. Awesome.