lol.. Read up on Japanese modern society, son. It's not like that at all.

Perhaps I'm wrong but isn't Microsoft Windows the dominant OS in Japan? I'm pretty sure it is. If so, then it's not like Microsoft doesn't have brand recognition in Japan. They just need to translate the success of the Microsoft brand to their subsidiary Xbox brand. And as mentioned before, Apple and other American and western companies are very popular in Japan. Don't give up in Japan MS. Buy Mistwalker, buy Itagaki's new team, and buy some more small Japanese developers and before you know it the Xbox brand will improve slowly but surely over there. MS put a lot of effort into Japan and improved from Xbox numbers by 2-3x but they are doing the wrong things. Instead of moneyhatting third-parties for timed exclusivity, they should be buying companies outright, ensuring that exclusives stay exclusive. Otherwise you get situations like ToV, SO4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 where the 360 early adopters are outraged that PS3 owners are getting extras and they're not.

windows != quality.

microsoft brand doesn't represent quality, in none of the markets.

they have to change that, in america, they start to show "i'm pc" ads, where they go against apple own dirty ads.

but they went for "do the same for cheaper", not "we offer more quality".

microsoft to win japan have to buy DQ exclusive and FF exclusive, and pokemon. at least 2 of those.

the moment a multiplatform version exist they are done.

Yeah Japan buys Playstation and America buys Xbox. Makes sense.

It's mainly because Microsoft stumbled blindly into the Japanese market with the Xbox, an oversized console loaded with shooters and western style action games. Then, they thought they could salvage their brand name by buying off some developers to make average RPG games. This may sound mean, but it's true. While Japan is a proud nation, and the citizens do have a preference for domestic products, it's not the end-all-be-all that some people make it out to be. It also has to do with the fact that Microsoft completely screwed up.

Japan likes to buy Japanese products. Japan also respects brand name, and the PlayStation is a much stronger brand name than the Xbox.

And it has nothing to do with Hiroshima, because Japan don't buy European games in large quantities either- look at LBP.

And what Apple products would you be referring to? Surely not the iPhone, it was a failure in Japan.

The biggest factor would be that Sony has had a presence in Japan much longer than Microsoft, and has more franchises that the Japanese people like. It's as simple as that.