Japan is very different from the rest of the world right now. If you look at this weeks top 20 you see 11 of those games are on handhelds. If we look at the american numbers we see only 5 games in the top 20 are on handhelds. If you look closer you can see that every one of those handheld games are almost 2 years old. Then if you look in this weeks numbers there are 6 Wii games. Meaning 17 of the top 20 games are either on a handheld or on a Wii in Japan. Which leaves just 3 game places left for the HD consoles of which the PS3 took at 3,5 and 20. Where as again if you look at the american numbers last week you see 5 handheld games, 1 on PS2, 6 Wii games. leaving 8 HD games to fill 50% of the spots. 7 of those games are on 360 and 1 is on PS3.

Basically meaning that Japan and the west are going in different directions. The west has adopted the HD era and it is reflected in its charts, 8 of the 20 games are HD console games, 40%. Where as in Japan it amounts to just 3 of the 20 games which is just 15%.

Now the question then becomes why has Japan not taken to the HD era at the same rate as the west? Well many reason, for one Japan is one of if not thee highest cost of living country in the world, add to that the Yen is very strong at the momment. Add on top of that recession and a cultural people who save at recession times would indicate that right now people don't think its the right price at this point to buy into the HD era.

So my view is Japan is unsure if to buy into the HD era right now and are holding off until they get some more incentives i.e big title games,cheaper consoles etc.. Until then i would expect the Japanese trend to continue to decline in hardware sales while continue to buy games that at least in handheld terms are quite old.