I have both the japanese and PAL console ,things I noticed
unit differences
Pal freezes more often while it has a better fan and more vents
Pal power cable suck major ass!

its very loose and goes out quickly
There is a slight lag between turning on the pal untit and the light going red
My jap ps2 doesn\'t have a harddrive bay
Pal ps2 is slightly heavier
speed issues/borders
Pal DMC is much slower than the NTSC jap demo
SSX Pal version is slower and granier
TTT\'s combos have to timed slightly different to match the Pal speed.
RRV has huge borders compared to its NTC counterpart
Pros of owning a Jap unit
-Get all the good japanese games first
-No borders, no slowdown and all in 60hz
-Graphics seem slightly \'cleaner\' in some games
-less to no freezing and overeheating/disk problems
Cons of owning a Jap unit
-Language, but it is \'do-able\' take it from me

-You will be missing out on some westren games
-Expensive games!!
- No good chip out to play domestic games
conclusion
If you can get it cheap and you are willing to take a BIG risk I say go get it, from personal view I think I do reccomend you it, but I would wait for a good chip first