In the olden days of gaming, everything worthwhile came out of Japan, as did all of the console manufacturers. Now, with the game market being much more globalized, American developers have as strong of a foothold in our culture as ever. That is, everywhere but in Japan. There are a lot of facets of our gaming culture that the U.S. holds dear that the Japanese have never even given a second thought to. Here's a list of some of the most surprising (and maybe least surprising, in some cases).

10. Lara Croft

If you imagine a Japanese video game, you're probably going to imagine something with a female protagonist (or an androgynous male protagonist), which makes it all the more odd that the former first lady of gaming never really meant anything to Japan. The developers of the game have said that one of the biggest hurdles for Japanese gamers to cross was that they didn't want to control a character who would keep dying grisly deaths due to "dishonorable- violence. Perhaps if Lara Croft had been a CEO who caused her business to fail, thereby disgracing her family, gamers would have been more comfortable with her demise.