SCE president of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has officially confirmed via Twitter that the PS Vita will be region free. So if you're looking to import one when it launches December 17 in Japan you won't have much trouble later on when the handheld officially hits North America. It also means you will be able to import Japanese PS Vita titles, from the likes of Play-Asia, which take a while before they hit stateside.
It goes without saying that it's another blow to Nintendo, as the 3DS is region locked. Sony has yet to confirm whether the Japanese PS Vita launch unit will support an English UI, so you better brush up your Japanese if you want to be one of the first few to own a Vita.
via Joystiq