I'm wondering that too.
If you unzip the firmware file there's a NW_WM_FW.UPG file. And I checked the japanese firmware and english one. The file size are different, if just swap that file and update it might work.... i'm afraid i might not be able to update it back. It sounds like only 1.02 can update to 1.1, I dunno if 1.1 can update to another 1.1....and i don't know about hardware differences, The japanese verson has TV tuner and a different frequency of FM radio...
Anybody tried it?