I have a few DS games that are from Japan - and fortunately, they don't really require you to know any japanese.
However, I am planning on importing Final Fantasy Tactics A2, which was released in October in Japan, and has no NA release date - and Square Enix has already announced their first half of 2008 lineup.
FFTA2 is pretty heavy on the text, and I know absolutely zero japanese. You would think that would be a terrible idea, but back in the early 90s, I played my first all-japanese game, the Enix made RPG, Soul Blader. When you submerge yourself into something, you may be surprised to find that you will quickly start picking up on things. I have played through and beaten Soul Blader quite a few times. It's simply trial and error discovering what each option does. Not being able to read the text also eliminates the 'hand-holding' which can be somewhat detestable in some games now.
Now in Soul Blader's case, I of course had no idea what the story was beyond what I gleaned from gameplay, and in FFTA2's case, I'm honestly not even really concerned for the story as much as I just want another Tactics game to play. FFTA2 might have a great story, but I'll figure out the specifics when it actually gets released in North America. Who knows, maybe I'll write a FAQ about it when it's all said and done?
A few other DS imports I own:
Polarium
Impulse buy ($8 used) from eBay a couple years ago. I went to Gamefaqs and found an outline and translation of the main menu and options. Gameplay requires no reading whatsoever. It's an okay game, a lot of puzzle solving with little reward. It got to be tiring after the first 25 (out of 100) stages or so.
Wario Ware Touched!
Bought from the same guy as I got Polarium from. Only $10 used (and combined shipping, woot!). This was some of the best money I ever spent on a DS game, as it's simple, fast-paced fun. You're handicapped slightly to start off with unless you can read japanese, as you don't know if it's telling you to touch, scratch, or whatever - BUT it doesn't impede your gaming at all, because the overall layout of the micro games are so easily understood - universal even. I'm glad I got this on eBay, as it is out of print now in NA, and in Japan as well I believe.
Electroplankton
This one I did pay full price ($50, on eBay of course) for, as there were no plans on releasing it in North America at the time. While it was eventually released in NA a year or so after I bought it, it was a very limited release, and you'll be lucky to find a copy at a Gamestop as it was never sold in stores. This game had very little text, and was also very easily understood. A very relaxing music-making game features 10 different modes each consisting of a different electroplankton. You can also just choose to watch preloaded electroplankton in action, which is pretty neat.
While I haven't played Jump Super Stars or Jump Ultimate Stars yet, I have considered picking these up. The first one you can get pretty cheap ($20ish), the second one is still pretty new ($30ish) and supports online gameplay. It's basically a Super Smash Bros game with anime characters from the likes of Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, and tons of others. Sadly, I do not believe it has any plans on coming to NA... but I honestly don't believe a fighting game will require you to read a whole lot to figure stuff out - plus, with all the anime fans out there, I'm sure there are very detailed FAQs on the storyline, special moves, etc.
-Zon
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