I don't know how I missed that all the "colored" Vitas are still black or white in front for so long. Sigh. On the upside, now the dayglo yellow is a lot more appealing.
What's the chance it comes to North America?
Zero.
Should I just import it? If so, what's the best way?
The best way depends upon what you value more: a better price or more convenience. Speaking of better price, I think I'd try and hold out for 15000 yen unless you want one ASAP. This new lower cost Vita is being introduced at the exact same price as the OLED Vita...smart move from a corporate perspective, but as a consumer I'd wait until they were willing to pass on the savings. Anyway, the following is for you or anyone else in NA who doesn't have much experience with imports but was thinking about it. I've seen a few people around pondering.
1.) Stateside import shop:
NCS will probably stock them. In the rare event something goes wrong, dealing with native English speakers located on the same continent as you is nice. Super high markup though.
2.) Overseas import shop:
Play-Asia will definitely carry them. However if an item is not in stock, you can't depend upon their "usually ships within
x" timeframe. It "usually" takes a few weeks longer.
3.) Japanese exporter:
AmiAmi might stock them. Since they're a Japanese retailer they sometimes discount below MSRP, but they're kind of a mom-and-pop warehouse so you're not gonna get the most polished experience and they aren't the most flexible. You're "not allowed" to cancel orders, for example—they'll do it if you explain the circumstances or you can just refuse to pay the invoice, but that's inadvisable.
4.) Japanese forwarder: Sign up for a Japanese address from
Tenso, then order the system from
Amazon Japan...or any other retailer large enough to accept non-Japanese credit cards. After thinking about it, the circumstances in which this would be your best choice are kinda rare so I'm just gonna leave it at that and say you're probably best off with option 2 or 3.