I'm more interested in finding out whether it's region free for digital content. Currently the best model seems to be iOS, which doesn't tie your Apple ID to every service on the device.
Instead you can sign out of the App Store, retain your primary Apple ID for iMessage, iCloud etc., but sign into the App Store using a different Apple ID from a different region, purchase and download content from iBooks, Music, App Store, then sign back into your primary account and have no restrictions on how you use that content. You can also change the country your primary account is associated with, if you can prove it with a billing address.
Given the way games are distributed nowadays you're going to miss out much more on Japan-only digital titles than physical games. But on the other hand, Nintendo is the most forward thinking out of the big three in terms of making it as easy as possible to publish games worldwide: the eShop supports the IARC ratings system, which lets developers generate a bunch of worldwide ratings for a digital game free of charge. But currently it doesn't support Japan's CERO. But NCL is gradually lowering barriers to entry for Japanese developers too - something which happened just in time for Bitsummit this year.
That would be nice. Xbox One also does a great job in terms of making sure there's only one SKU for games across all regions, from what I gather.