Will Wii welcome previously Japan-only games?

A very interesting conversation has taken place between Wired's Chris Kohler and Nintendo of America's George Harrison that could be of interest to retro nerds like myself.

Apparently Kohler asked if Nintendo has given any thought to translating games previously limited to the Japanese market. Here's what Harrison had to say:

"We are aware that there are some very successful Japanese franchises that have a small following in the US, and that they could never be reached by putting these products out at retail. We’re open to games released in Japan if we can get them translated properly."

I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for any of these games to be released over here, but just the fact that Harrison commented on it in the not-quite affirmative made my ears stand at attention. Fingers crossed that something comes of it eventually...