Apple's iTunes Music Store in Japan has helped accelerate the acceptance of the digital music in Japan. Macworld UK reports that the launch of iTunes Music Store in Japan helped purchased online during the third quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter, according to figures released by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) today. The association said there were 2.3 million downloads from Internet-based music stores during the July to September quarter. In the first and second quarters of this year downloads totalled 1.1 million and 1.0 million respectively, according to the RIAJ figures, which have only been available from this year." The report notes that the numbers represent "downloads," which are submitted by major digital music portals, so the number of songs--which are combined in a single "download" during an album purchase--may actually be greater.