I think in some cases it has something to do with sample clearances or stuff like that...I remember that the OG version of the Ghost Dog soundrtrack was a Japan export back in the day
Nope.
In the days when CDs were the main and only source of music, they used to get released in other parts of the world at different times, similar to DVD region codes or ones for video games.
Japan (a major market) used to get the stuff weeks and sometimes months later, so adding bonus tracks was an incentive to give people to still buy the albums even after the initial release.
Not sure how much sense that makes, here in Europe yes the CD would be available later than in the US, but it's not you add access to the US cd anyway, so extra track or not we were buying it. Hell I didn't even realize that we had extra tracks in Europe until some threads started popping up onor here about it.
You asked for the explanation, did you not?
The releases were later.
People knew the CDs were out, but had no incentive to miss out on just getting the pirated copy from earlier releases if there wasn't some bonus tracks on their special regional release.
Nope, OP did. I just suggested one, and not convinced by yours![]()