Will Japan finally get an iTunes Music Store?

Apple Japan has invited select journalists a "special music event" on August 4th at 10am. The event will take place at the Tokyo International Forum and it is expected to be the launch of the iTunes Music Store in Japan.

Prospective iTMS downloaders will be waiting to hear about pricing... In Japan, music services typically charge $1.50-$3.00 (¥160 and ¥320) per track, which is substantially more than Apple's standard $0.99. Then again, in Japan it's also apparently legal to rent an entire music CD for not much more than the cost of a single downloaded track and rip it yourself.

We'd love to hear from our Japanese readers on this one...