Thanks for the feedback and also to the PM from Ian. The outcome so far: I re-rinsed one of the less "important" rolls, changing the water frequently and agitating vigorously. I had some stab solution left over from my foray into home developing C41 a couple of months ago, so that wasn't a problem. The result is, that it seems that some of the dust specks have gone, others have just moved an inch or so on the surface of the film. So it seems that the dirt can be removed from the emulsion, which is good news, but it seems that quite some directed force (water flow) is necessary to actually accomplish this. As part of the rolls are already cut up anyway, I will probably re-rinse only the frames that I actually plan to use than rather whole rolls.
The background is that I was one a three week shooting trip to Japan and while I would normally just have brought the film back to have it developed at my lab of choice here in Germany, I found it critical this time to see some preliminary results to decide on further shooting necessary. So I checked out a local lab in Kobe and they seemed pretty trustworthy, the owner being quite involved in analog photography himself and offering workshops on film photography ... Also the price for development was not actually cheap (pro lab level), so I had some confidence ... I had some great service from photo labs in Japan in the past, but this time I ran out of luck ... Good news is that the more important part of the rolls was developed perfectly at my preferred lab here in Germany ...