Thank you,

Subsequent to this post, I contacted a popular Japanese phone reseller who confirmed the phones sold at the Apple store (not the carrier stores) are unlocked, however at this time, apparently hordes of Chinese tourists are grabbing as many phones as they can for resale back in China, along with other resellers marking them up 50% or more for global sales.

So, given I can't find the phone in Japan, or even in the USA for that matter, I will hold back until I'm in Tokyo in Oct or Nov and try to find one at that time - and their model also allows use on US CMDA (Verizon/Sprint) along with US GSM carriers, so I am guessing it's the same model as the US Verizon phone with the added Felica chip. I don't think Apple does any other localization on Japanese or other foreign sold phones that makes it different than a US bought iPhone.