First-time ESR user, can't get it to work.

I got FreeMCBoot with ESR from a friend of mine, and just made my first backup copy. (Specifically, Beatmania IIDX 11 RED.) However, I can't get ESR to launch the backup; it just goes to the uLaunchELF menu. Is this possibly because it's a Japanese game?

Have you patched the iso using esr patch gui? cd or dvd?

ESR works with any region. Like kadorna2 just said, make sure the disk is patched for use with ESR first (google ESR disk patcher) and make sure it is burned to a DVD, preferrably DVD-R. The reason it needs to be patched is so ESR recognises it as a DVD file in order to boot the executables, and also so that it meets the required file size to work with the PS2.
I also advise that you should use a low burn speed such as x2 for more accuracy as this will make it easier for your laser to read.