People want to play with their friends/family/guildmates ... currently this is impossible for many. If you spend time developing a character on a japanese server - unless SQ-E offers free transfers in September, the player has essentially wasted their time and will also be assessed a fee to move a character so they can play with the people they want to play with.

At the very least, this is a an exploding minefield of PR disaster. First perceptions are incredibly hard to rectify if they're bad.