Is the investigation by the Japanese government’s Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) into alleged false billing by iTunes Japan a form of retaliation for the U.S. government’s probe into troubled Japanese automaker Toyota? Pretty far-fetched, but that’s what some people believe, if various online postings are anything to go by.

According to Japanese media reports, the CAA said on Feb. 17 that it has asked the Japanese iTunes Store to look into false-billing claims following complaints from users that they were asked to pay for music downloads they never made. The agency has asked the Apple Computer subsidiary to reveal how many such claims iTunes Store is aware of, how much these claims amount to in monetary terms, the cause of the alleged problem and what Apple plans to do about it.

“It's America-bashing in return for the Toyota probe,” reads one only slightly paranoid post to the Japan Today website.

“Clearly Apple is not trying to get over on customers by padding their bills,” says a Tokyo-based industry source. “I can easily understand why some Americans would think this might be a retaliation for American media obsessing over Toyota's recall -- making a huge thing about it, when recalls are quite common,” the source says.

MAMN, meanwhile, is working on getting a comment from Apple Japan. Stay tuned.