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^If your country is a signatory of the Berne Convention, which sets international standards for copyright -- which most countries are, including Japan -- then it's plainly illegal. There is no "gray area." You watch what you buy, otherwise you're breaking copyright*. Though some might argue that there are different levels of "guilt" even legally, it does come down to "we're all guilty."
*Lending DVDs to friends or something like that is more complicated. Most people say "what the hell of course it's legal!" and I'm with most people. But overly zealous copyright practitioners have been trying to dislodge that idea for years.
In practice, with some odious exceptions, companies don't really have the time or resource to persecute you for partaking in their product when they don't even have a market presence in your area. And of course ethical concerns are more complicated, and "licensed" vs. "unlicensed" is a part of that ethical debate.
It's up to you to decide whether what you're doing is ethically wrong or not. Or not decide at all and just say, don't worry, be happy.
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