I live in Tokyo, but bought my new Kobo Touch in Toronto on a home visit a few weeks ago. I showed it to a co-worker here this week, and he has ordered one from Rakuten already! So I will be able to compare his Japanese version to my Cdn one (it was a previous firmware but updated to 2.0 the second time I plugged it in to the Kobo Desktop software).
So far, the experience has been a bit bumpy -- I had just gotten familiar with the previous version when it switched to 2.0
but now I am getting used to the new home page. I miss the clock!
Also find that the screen is temperamental. Some taps on the icons work right away, some don't and it seems to sit there doing nothing. I may try switching to the previous firmware this weekend, after reading about all the bugs.
here's to happy reading....