We are now about a month out from when the Sony PS Vita launched in Japan. Sony’s latest handheld had a pretty good launch week, but it now looks like nothing short of a Monster Hunter-sized miracle will bring it back into the public mind share.

Let’s let the numbers do the talking (courtesy of Japanese firm Media Create):The Vita sold 325,000 units in its launch week. This is about 50,000 units below the Japanese 3DS launch. In its second week, the number of Vitas sold dropped to 72,479. It was vastly outsold by the 3DS (over 400k units) and even its predecessor, the PSP (101k units). Vita sales continued to plummet into week three, which saw only 42,648 of the handhelds leave shelves. Like week two, the Vita is still outsold by the 3DS and the aging PSP.

These ominous figures cast a big shadow of doubt over the Vita’s upcoming US launch. The handheld market is generally more healthy in Japan than in the states, so you’d think that sales will be even lower across the pond. However, dedicated handhelds have started giving way to smartphones in both countries.

I’m not telling you all to cancel your preorders, but Sony better have something up its sleeve to put the spotlight back on their newest handheld.