Speaking of updates, I just got the Japanese DVD. It was a budget re-release from 2004 since one of the pamphlets included were ads for the home media release of Finding Nemo. Interestingly enough, it not only has the Japanese dub, but also the Korean dub as well, both only in Dolby Surround. I honestly found it interesting since Japan had already started to get into Dolby Digital in 1995 with Whisper of the Heart, and since Toy Story came out in Japan several months after that movie, I’d assume that if the Japanese dub only being in Dolby Surround was either Disney’s choice when they released it to DVD, or it’s the only source they had at the time, since Disney’s Japanese division may not have the budget for Dolby Digital yet. In fact, the Japanese dub of the second film was in 5.1 EX on its DVD release, and since I can confirm the Flemish dub on the UK BD was the original 5.1 theatrical mix with the Surround EX flag, despite the Dutch DVD release only being in Dolby Surround, it seems that Disney might did do the Japanese dub in 5.1 at some point, until it got lost in favor of the 2005 remix. Though for the dub only being in Dolby Surround on this DVD release, and since the Japanese language is recognisable enough to get a 5.1 treatment akin to French and German, I can tell that Disney Japan just isn’t ready for DD yet at the time.
On the Japanese poster, it has the Spectral Recording Dolby Stereo Digital logo, so I assume the Japanese dub’s mixed into 5.1 or the technology’s limited to the English track since there are screenings that contain the original soundtrack with subtitles.
Also, around 1996, Japanese dubs of both Disney and non-Disney animated films like Balto got the digital surround sound treatment (assuming that the aforementioned Hollywood/British produced animated production was the first to do so) and by 1998, prints of films started to utilize all of the 3 digital surround formats (Dolby Digital, DTS, and SDDS), so I do think the Japanese dub mixes are ported to them. I don’t know if Lion King or Pocahontas’s Japanese dubs got the Dolby Digital treatment albeit uncredited since I think there are theaters that screen Hollywood films in Digital Sound pre-Whisper of the Heart?