I've got a Japanese PSP imported by somebody I know and it is pretty nice. There are a few dead pixels on the screen which are a bit annoying but can't do too much about that unfortunately. The Japanese ones have the same region code (2) as the UK just on the off chance that I might turn insane and decide to buy UMD movies. I might get one UMD movie just to see how it looks but thats it.

The only game I've got is Ridge Racer and I'm very impressed. Annoyingly somebody I know decided to use the New Game option and then said Yes to the prompt do you want to overwrite your old one so I have to start over

There seems to be a small homebrew community for the PSP as well. The initial Japanese release PSPs running v1.0 of the firmware had a backdoor in that it would allow you to run unsigned code in ELF format. All other territories and Japan now come with v1.5+ which has plugged this hole.

I'm not sure who started the rumour about the steel wool and the screen coating but I've managed to put a very light scratch into the surface already just by using it. You can't see it unless you angle the screen but it's still there. There is also a tiny flaw in the surface as well from where they applied the coating.