Originally Posted by monahos
The main problem will be getting support for this computer's custom hardware, if any: XP drivers obviously exist, and you'll want to preserve access to them from the original Japanese boot drive (or copy it onto another partition), since the installation CD is probably a compressed OS restore disk as opposed to a CD with discrete folders including drivers. Otherwise, a Japanese-reading friend could locate them for you on the NEC website.
Once the drivers are installed, you'll have to find English software that fully takes advantage of the hardware; in my experience country-specific hardware such as TV tuners are a problem.
Good points and they echo what one of the companies recommended above wrote back to me. It seems like more of a gamble than I had thought. So the question becomes:
Does anyone know of similar type of computer that IS available outside Japan and can be shipped elsewhere (with an English OS)? Any specific experiences with buying such a computer?
Many computer makers seem to offer this type of desktops these days. (The Vaios looked very sleek too but didn't have any PCI slots so are useless to me (I need one for my satellite modem as I live in a rural area and it's my only option for high-ish speed internet).