Another week and the bald patch we’re creating every time we scratch our heads trying to fathom the Japanese software market grow wider and shinier.

Still, what the Japanese chart lacks in the way of, erm, sanity it more than makes up in novelty, variety, movement and mind-boggling numbers. Having said that, this week’s number one game has not managed to match the weekly sales of previous incumbents such as Monster Hunter 2nd G, Phantasy Star Portable et al. Instead J-League Winning Eleven 2008 – Japan’s version of Pro Evolution Soccer – managed a relatively sober 79,000 copies in its first week of sale. It is a Playstation 2 game, though, so let’s not be too quick to judge.

And that’s another perplexing characteristic of the Japanese charts – handheld and aged formats rule the roost while the proper next-gen consoles (and we do not include Wii in that definition) are often nowhere to be seen. In fact the first one to appear on this week’s top thirty is 360 RPG Tales of Vesperia at 21. Thereafter it’s Soul Calibur IV on PS3 at 24 and that’s yer lot for the finest, most powerful consoles on the planet. Meanwhile the rest of the chart includes Powerful Pro Baseball and Memories 6 T-Wave, both on PS2, and Mario Superstar Baseball on GameCube for flipping heck’s sake. Bizarre!

Anyway, here’s how the Japanese top ten looks for the week ending August 24. Don’t scratch too hard...:

1. J-League Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2) – 79,000/New
2. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) – 67,000
3. Inazuma Eleven (DS) – 41,000/New
4. Dragon Quest V: Heavenly Bride (DS) – 32,000
5. Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) – 31,000
6. Wii Fit (Wii) – 30,000
7. Harukanaru Toki no Naka De... (DS) – 26,000/New
8. Sigma Harmonics (DS) – 23,000/New
9. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 19,000
10. Diagasso! Band Brothers DX (DS) – 16,000