Some of the Xbox360 games released in Japan will run in English on a Japanese machine. Here's a list of games I have tested. If anyone comes across any others please let me know.
English Language available: Dashboard Perfect Dark Zero Dead Or Alive 4
Tested by other sources: Ridge Racer 6
I imagine all the xbox live arcade games will run in English but tested games are: Hexic HD Smash TV Joust Outpost X Geometry Wars Bejeweled2 Wik Guantlet
Demos: Kameo Demo
English Language NOT available: Tetris: The Grand Master ace Need for speed Most wanted Final Fantasy XI beta test
I'm English and wanted to get a US xbox360, but went for a Japanese one in the end. I haven't tried importing anything yet but when I asked about region free games and getting a US xbox360 these are the links I was recomended.
You can make the UK xbox work in Japan, it's what I use. If you get a copy of splinter cell, an action replay and a special save game of the internet, you can change a UK xbox display mode to NTSC. You also need to buy a power adapter for it, so it's not a quick or particularly cheap fix.
The Japanese compatablity list is diferent from the US and UK versions. With the Japanese list being far far shorter. You have to download the emulators for each game, you can download them from a PC and burn it to a disk then put it into the 360.If you have broadband at your place, just plug in your 360 and you can sign up for a free silver live account that will let you get emulators for backwards compatability. The other option is buy a japanese xbox as they're crazy cheap.
Xbox 1 games I'd recomend (all UK versions):
-Forza Motorsport
-Far Cry insticts (I don't think this is currently available here)
-Half Life 2 is suposed to be great, though I've not played it. I believe the PC version is supposed to be superior.
-PGR2 though you should get PGR3 if you've got a Xbox360
-Ghost Recon 2
-Rainbow six 3
-Doom3 is pretty good
-Farenheit
-Beyond good and evil
On the 360
-Dead or Alive 4
-Project Gotham racing 3
-Perfect dark -online is good
-Need for speed
-I really like tetris but mainly for the online stuff.