i got a dvd player for 50 €(euro) thats about $60 or something (someone do the math ?) it came with a form saying how to make it region free. So my suggestion is : buy one (look up the brand on the internet and see if it has a region free trick-thingie)

Then again we rarely use it since we (me and my girlfriend) both have a dvd player and we have a dvd burner in our almost identical machines
and we live in region 2 wich is the same as japan...
:P

p.s. my birthday is soon I expect lots of e-cards :P