Do Japanese-bought Train-Sims work on US PCs?

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Last year when I was at the mega-electronics-store in Akihabara I saw several interesting-looking Japanese train simulators for sale, which said they worked for Windows XP.  Since they were in the $30-$40 equivalent range (in Yen of course), I didn't buy them because I wasn't sure if 1) I could bring it back to the US and 2) if it would run on a USA version of XP, and didn't want to waste the money if it didn't work.

 

Does anyone know if it's possible (or allowed) to buy a Japanese train sim and for it to work if you bring it back home and run it on a computer in the US?

 

Just curious...if so it will be money well spent my next trip to Japan!  Somehow having to race a clock with a second hand while spotting your train down to within 30 cm of a marker is a lot more stimulating than most Microsoft Train Simulator activities...

 

Thanks!

[IST]

As I experienced, the Densha De Go series are working on every PC without any problem. At the installation you can see a lot of "?" "@" and other letters instead of Japanese characters, but it can't be a problem for a PC user, just push Enter, Enter, Enter to reach Next, Next, Next! 

 

For your info: there are some pieces from the DDG series that are priced for JPY 1480 and JPY 1980.

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Thanks, I'll have to try it out!

[disturbman]

And normally, you can force your Windows to show Japanese characters. There is plenty of tutorial on the subject around the net.