Google Japan has announced that the home page redesign that was launched in February of 2009 was roundly criticized by users in Japan, so much so that Google Japan has gone back to the home page design pre-February 2009. Google Japan apologizes to the Japan users for this unpopular redesign.

http://googlejapan.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post_27.html
(in Japanese, feel free to use Google Translate)

February 2009 redesign launch post here:

http://googlejapan.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-japan-version-2.html