I'm located in Tokyo, and I had severe update problems before stumbling upon the "Choose the best server" option in System > Administration > Software Sources > Download from > Other.
After getting the new server, updates were found. Previous attempts timed out. So I guess whatever was set by default is totally swamped. I couldn't even add Japanese language support. (In fact, I don't remember seeing that as an option in install this time.)
Anyway, probably not many people in my shoes, but I hope this helps others in Japan.
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