Just another confirmation that the Japanese NoDVD exe does indeed work fine on the English version.
I renamed the file from NFSMW.exe to speed.exe and replaced the original speed.exe (renaming the original speed.exe to speed.exe.bak, for future updates
) and voila, all works fine.
No more images or protection hiders needed.
As mentioned in one of the replies above, the only difference I noticed is that Josie's little disclaimer warning at the start of the game has subtitles, but that's it.
My originals are the Black Edition on CD.....just in case that means anything.