I\'m goin\' out on a limb here, but it could be because most the top developers are located in Japan . I\'m also sure that sells will pick back up. As of right now, there isn\'t alot goin\' on anywhere. The N64 is almost dead, the DC is pretty much dead (rest in peace). The only system out there is the PS2 and it hasn\'t had alot of huge Japanese releases (i.e, Final Fantasy). Once all the systems are out and titles start flowing like a river, I think you will see sells pick up again.
To be honest, we use to look at Japan as the place of up and coming games. The place that got lucky and got all the cool games. But as of lately, it doesn\'t seem that way and if you look back at system launches in Japan, you will notice how they sell well, but the actual games are really quite terrible.