But I suppose that requires more effort than Microsoft is willing to put in and/or is capable of.
Quote Originally Posted by Wikipedia, take with a pinch of salt, I guess
While the original Xbox sold poorly in Japan, selling just 0.5 million units while it was on the market (between 2002 and 2005), the Xbox 360 performed better, but still poorly, selling only 1.5 million units from 2005 to 2011

Edge magazine reported in August 2011 that initially lacklustre and subsequently falling sales in Japan, where Microsoft had been unable to make serious inroads into the dominance of domestic rivals Sony and Nintendo, had led to retailers scaling back and in some cases discontinuing sales of the Xbox 360 completely
Link!

Why the heck would MS want to have a massive push in Japan, spending a lot of money on advertising and all that jazz, when this is their legacy so far? x}

The Japanese are just not interested.