Although Apple has remained mum as to when the iPad 2 would arrive in its second largest market, Japan's financial newspaper of record, the Nikkei, just sent Japanese tablet fans into a frenzy by announcing that the device would arrive in stores this Thursday.

As the more hardcore Apple fans will remember, the iPad 2 went on sale on March 11, the same day as Japan's strongest, most devastating earthquake in history. The catastrophe put all of Apple's Japan plans on hold, even though most of Japan's other major cities far away from the disaster were largely unaffected and had a good number of tablet fans waiting to pick up the new version of the device. According to the Nikkei, Apple decided to proceed with its Japan release after the Apple store in Sendai finally reopened, prices are expected to range around 40,000 (or $487) for the entry-level model.

Via Nikkei