The Wii and DS phenomenon is gaining momentum worldwide with no sign of PSP, PS3 or Xbox 360 in this week’s charts overseas.

Heading into Christmas, Japanese spends have put Nintendo consoles firmly in the Top 10. As ever the balance of software is radically different to what we’re used to seeing here in the UK – the top selling game, listed below, is a popular drumming game based on those great big ‘Taiko’ drums made famous internationally by the Kodo troop. Taiko no Tatsujin sold a whopping 105,900 units in one week on Wii. Animal Crossing may not be top of everyone’s shopping list outside of Japan, but is number two in Nintendo’s domestic market; 97,700 copies gone to good homes. In fact Nintendo as publisher has six of the top tier to its credit. Perennial and very pink hero Kirby cleared 94,500 copies; Mario Kart and Wii Fit were in the 50K region.

Here’s that Japanese Top 10 in full:

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii – Namco Bandai (Wii)
Animal Crossing: City Folk – Nintendo (Wii)
Hoshi no Kirby: Ultra Super Deluxe - Nintendo (DS)
Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode – Nintendo (DS)
Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu! – Konami (DS)
Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel – Level 5 (DS)
Pokémon Platinum - Pokémon (DS)
Rhythm Tengoku Gold – Nintendo (DS)
Wii Fit – Nintendo – (Wii)
Mario Kart Wii – Nintendo (Wii)

This is very much a family-oriented line-up, showing where the hearts and wallets of Japanese consumers are this season. Of course Japan was never likely to go nuts over the latest Call of Duty by way of some explanation…