Reddit mentions of Only Yesterday ( Omohide poro poro ) ( Memories of Teardrops ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]

http://www.amazon.com/Yesterday-Omohide-Memories-Teardrops-NON-USA/dp/B000GHRCFS/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1348692175&sr=1-1&keywords=only+yesterday

Ah, gotcha! At this point maybe it's worth waiting for the dub, but if you're really eager to see it before then it looks like a sub-only DVD is available in the UK.

Part of what makes the film's release in the US so exciting for us is that it's never been given an official cinema or home video release here. A cable channel called Turner Classic Movies has shown it a few times, but for the most part those of us who've seen it have had to download or import it until now!

This seems to be one of those strange situations where the UK actually gets some anime that the US doesn't!

(Proof: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Only-Yesterday-DVD-Isao-Takahata/dp/B000GHRCFS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376871125&sr=8-1&keywords=only+yesterday )

Does Disney have exclusive distribution rights in the US or something similar?

Really?

http://www.amazon.com/Yesterday-Omohide-Memories-Teardrops-NON-USA/dp/B000GHRCFS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348884018&sr=8-2&keywords=only+yesterday

Fair enough, not US format, but that's really not an impossible situation to solve.