Is this an official release? Or is there a boot? I ask because this is a Japanese release and most sellers are from China. Can someone certain of owning an official Japanese CD release add matrix info?

You've raised an interesting question. I have a copy of the cd from a Chinese ebay seller. The quality of the disc, print, booklet and obi is top notch. The CD is even housed in it's own material inner sleeve. If it is a boot it is top quality. The element of doubt I now have is based on a current copy on ebay. The card sleeve I have with mine is a very heavy duty card sleeve and there is no real "defined" sleeve spine edge like you get on an LP however there is black print on the limited spine there is. The copy currently on ebay has a defined LP edge and contains some red print that isn't found on my copy. Would be interesting to compare my copy and the one on ebay, the one currently for sale I found looks more "LP like" than mine.

This is not a remaster, this is comparable to a NM- vinyl rip, quiet (not as quiet as Numero Group's reissues), no clicks, no pops though.If you can't afford £1000-2000 for the original LP, this is the thing for you, comes with a booklet which talks about the album and the tracks (in Japanese). Apparently they recreated the front and back to their true dimentions and ratios, just downscaled it to a CD size.It really is a perfect CD reissue, sound quality not impacted, artwork not impacted, makes an inaccessible item accessible.2 Bonus tracks, the first "Pain In My Heart" really feels like something which should have been included on the original album, same style and theme as first 12 tracks.Second bonus track, "Without Some Kind Of Man" is a little different, wonderful composition with horns, violins, and prominent guitar, features additional vocalising by what appears to be Helene Smith herself, neither of these "bonus" tracks are cheap as singles, so they are great to have.The additinal liner notes on the OBI strip can be found on the soundcloud page I linked, copy and paste them into google translate to find out what they say. it's really just an introduction to the album.Nobody's posted a flac rip since it's not cheap and a collector's item, buy it while it's still below £100 is my advice.