I already own an international blu ray player (BPX370) for Blu-rays I occasionally import from Europe. Would there be any reason to import anything from Japan?
I suspect the answer is no, unless there are some Japanese exclusives. I’d prefer to at least have English subtitles.
For DVDs it wasn’t uncommon for the Japanese releases to have higher video quality because they typically had fewer episodes on one disc, but for BDs, if there is any difference at all, it’s probably not worth the additional cost.
That leaves bonus features and packaging. Often Japan-exclusive bonus features aren’t terribly interesting, just stuff like audio commentary by the voice actors (if you’re lucky, staff like the director might show up too), but occasionally you get things like the famously overpriced Nichijou BDs, which are more bonus feature than show. It’s also still the only way of getting the soundtrack of that show, I think. Some also come with feelies, like each Puniru BD box came with a quarter of a deck of cards, a post card and some booklets.
Packaging-wise, there’s generally just more of it and with made-for-purpose art. While the days of two episodes per disc are over, it’s also not like modern US or European releases where they squeeze as many discs in the space of a standard case as they can. Some releases have special packaging, like the gorgeous CITY BDs, which is also not very common anymore for anime over here. Occasionally the opposite does happen, though, like the YAT Anshin! Uchuu Ryokou BD box that looks like a cheap VHS case and uses a literal screencap from the show as cover art, but on the whole if you like having your favourite show have some actual presence on your shelf and maybe be in a nice box, the Japanese release is often your only option nowadays.
English subtitles on Japanese releases, while they do occasionally happen, aren’t very common. If I recall correctly, the Nanoha movies had English subtitles of mixed quality and the Heybot BD box had subtitles in several languages… for only the first episode.
The encode usually varies by region so sometimes whoever did the jpbd may have done a better job, but that’s going to be on a case by case basis. Often the good re least groups will use multiple regions to create a release better than all of them. As far as the actual content, probably not unless it’s like a Japan only rerelease or something
You could look for blu rays with 英語字幕 but I’d be surprised to find more than maybe a handful of weird outliers to have anything other than Japanese subs.
