In http://musicbrainz.org/edit/17935232 I edited an alias for a Japanese sortname so that it has the Japanese name as the alias and left the sortname, so that it's now the sortname of the Japanese name.

Now searching by the sortname - http://musicbrainz.org/search?query=%E3%81%BF%E3%82%85%E3%81%86%E3%81%98&type=artist&limit=25&method=indexed - doesn't find the artist.

I could re-add the sortname as a search hint, but since it's already stored as part of an alias, it would make more sense to just include the alias sortnames when searching.