i was actually just discussing this stuff with my friend today
an english translation patch would be nice (not sure how to work it with my R4DS) but then again one can just go find the guides..
these two kids i know will NOT play these two games since it´s in Japanese, though your knowledge (or lack of) in the Japanese language department barely affect gameplay, you just need to learn the menus, that´s basically it, the rest you can usually easily deduce what you need to do as far as goals go
that could just be me though