As far as I can tell, many games were exported, and were huge hits in Japan. The ultima series in particular comes to mind, but Wizardry, Phantasie, and other series certainly made it over. Indeed, much with American rockstars, these games seem to live a new life over there, and some new games were made that were released only in Japan (I'm thinking here of Phantasie IV, but there are many others). I'd be very curious to know if these games were considered better over there than the Japanese-originals, or how they fit into that lineup. Surely not EVERY Japanese CRPG fan preferred the anime-style art and cuteness of games like Zelda and Final Fantasy. There must have been a group that preferred Ultima and Wizardry style.

I'm sure we could see the same thing in Germany, which could be rather interesting. I wonder how many German CRPGs migrated to Japan and vice versa?