JP vs US: compatability issues?

Hey,

So I'm going over to Japan in a month and a half, and I was thinking of getting a Slim while I was over there (I know i can get Slims here, I'm doing it for the novelty.) I was also thinking of getting a Pro Duo whilst over there. My question is this: While I know games are region free, is hardware also region free? Will an American Pro Duo work with a Japanese PSP and visa versa? And does custom firmware work on JP PSPs?

I'm just asking because I don't want to waste my money.

As far as I know the pro duo will work and cfw works in their psps. Not sure about all hardware stuff. I do know that UMD movies might not play on it that have a different region on them. But with custom firmware you can make the psp think it is a whatever psp and run the movie.

I know that about the UMDs which is why I was only worried about the hardware and CFW.

Also, will the Skype app be compatible?

I'm sure, because they wouldn't leave out every other country when they make a kewl app for the psp. There might be different versions, idk but I'm definitely sure that they would just make the app compatible to only US psps.