Depending on where you live, you may have an alternative. If you live in an area with a large asian population or have a Japanese bookstore nearby (
Kinokuniya,
BOOK-OFF, or a small independent) you may be able to find R2 Japan DVDs or be able to order them. Be warned that the R2s are expensive compared to the R1s, especially when they usually contain only 1 or 2 episodes versus the domestic version's 3 or 4.
Then there are comic and hobby shops which sometimes also carry anime. I have to warn you though, many of them carry bootlegs since they are cheaper and easier to get than the real R2 DVDs.
One of these days I need to troll around my town and visit all the Japanese bookstores that I used to frequent or pass by (assuming that they are still in business). BOOK-OFF is the most convenient for me, but seeing as they are a second-hand store, getting the newest stuff quickly is not always easy. I could always bother my sister to check the Kinokuniya near her home and mail stuff to me from thousands of miles away, but I'm not that bad of a brother.