I do wonder sometimes why JRPGs are restricted to the Japanese (and yes, I know the J stands for Japanese, but we all know it's referring to a style, not a country). Have any JRPG-style games been made exclusively by English speaking people? Basically I'm just wondering who their main competition is at the moment when it comes to the JRPG genre. I can't think of any off the top of my head.

I wouldn't say they have only made one good game in a decade. There are a number of games from SE that I have found enjoyable and have also been a commercial success. The problem is that even that number is not enough, and that until very recently they have been content to live in a bubble when it comes to development. They still are largely in that bubble, but hopefully over time they will learn to be far more open than they have been in the past. The more open they are and they more accepting they are of feedback, the earlier they can get feedback and in turn the earlier they can avoid having to completely rework a game (as was the case with FFXIV).

I actually quite like the unique vision that they have for games and how different they like to do things. The problem they have is being sometimes too different, taking the focus off what the gamers are wanting from the game they are intending on buying - in most cases for SE, this is a JRPG. Also, they can focus on the "different thing" so much that they drop the ball on more standard things, such as game stability (for FFXIV) and creativity (linearity, FFXIII).