The Japan Only Switch 2 「Nintendo Switch 2 日本語・国内専用」 is intended for use in Japan only with Japanese as the system language. These are two different things, so it's worth addressing them.

国内専用: The console can only be set to the Japan region. This means that if you purchase this console, eShop and Nintendo Account must be set to Japan¹⁾. This doesn't preclude you from playing with friends overseas. It does mean that you cannot use the eShop or link a Nintendo Account from outside of Japan. You can move a Nintendo Account to the Japan region, but this carries its own limitations (see below).

日本語: The console can only be set to Japanese. The big question I had was whether or not this impacted software, and the answer is kind of. If you're living in Japan but want to play some games in English, you sometimes can and sometimes can't. The main deciding factor is whether or not the game developer added a language override in their own software settings.

There is an official documentation page on this. Nintendo also cautions that if you do not link a Nintendo Account at all, you can't play multiplayer or do a whole bunch of stuff, so consider it a really bad idea to purchase this outside of Japan.

On any page on the eShop for a game that supports 英語, it says: 「Nintendo Switch 2（日本語・国内専用）では日本語でのみ遊べます。ただし、一部、ソフト内で言語を変更できる場合があります。」

• Cyberpunk 2077 (from Japanese eShop), 2.21 with English patch downloaded: Supports English language voiceover and text. Do note that the CERO Z version is significantly censored from the overseas release, but the Japanese domestic release fully supports English with the voice pack downloaded.
  • The voice pack does not list English language text as a feature. It may be removed in an update if this turns out to upset Nintendo.
  • Nowhere else to put this, but it also supports keyboard and mouse, which is really funny.
  • Also nowhere else to put this, but they added two Japanese language disclaimers to the starting movie, which causes the audio to no longer synchronize with the intro movie (logo/splash movie).
  • CDPR says 「Nintendo Switch 2 版『サイバーパンク2077 アルティメットエディション』に英語吹替音声を追加する無料の言語パック」。
• Powerwash Simulator (from Japanese eShop) (Nintendo Switch software): Supports English language in settings.
• Fantasy Life i (Nintendo Switch 2 edition (from Japanese eShop): Supports English language text and voiceover in settings. Language selection on first run.
• Sonic x Shadow Generations 「ソニック × シャドウ ジェネレーションズ」: Supports English language text and voiceover in options menu.

I think it's probably safe to say that all first-party Nintendo titles will not support English. But there is a significant caveat: Most first-party Nintendo titles have furigana enabled. So if you're learning Japanese, while this might be a slight headache, you can totally read everything on many titles. I suggest looking up a video of each title to verify separately.

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch 2 edition
• Mario Kart World
• Splatoon 3 (Nintendo Switch software)
• 2064: Read Only Memories Integral (Nintendo Switch software)

The reason why I bought the Nintendo Switch 2 (日本語・国内専用) is simple: I live in Japan and I'm learning Japanese, so it doesn't bother me. But there's also another factor: the launch lottery required you to have 50 hours on a Japan region Nintendo Switch and 1 year of NSO to enter the lottery to buy the multilingual model. In other words, the multilingual model, while more expensive and not geared towards the domestic market, was gated behind the lottery system. I expect that in the future as supply improves, this will change and more retailers will sell the Switch 2 multilingual version.

If you live in Japan, the calculus is rather annoying: If you qualify for the lottery, you can save money by going with the domestic model. But you really have to be committed to Japan to do this. If you buy the Japan model and move overseas, you will likely need to buy the multilingual model anyway and transfer everything.

If you change Nintendo Account regions from some country other than Japan to Japan, you render your prior purchases on the other region(s) inaccessible on the Japan only Switch 2. You can't change this Switch 2 to a different region, and you can't link a Nintendo Account in a different region. You can only link an account in the Japan region.

I have not tested linking a Japan region account and then moving to a different eShop region after linking, but I expect this to cause the console to deregister itself.

Anyways, as a result of this move, I accidentally orphaned many purchases in the Nintendo USA eShop. I suppose they still exist on my account, but I can't download any of these purchases on the Switch 2 that's for domestic use.

I strongly suspect that changing the region is going to be super trivial in software once hacks are available for the system. I also suspect that if you do this, you will totally end up banned from Nintendo's online services.

Nintendo's official stance is that overseas game cartridge support “isn't guaranteed” or “cannot be confirmed” but I suspect that overseas game carts will totally work, but if they contain Japanese and the language selector isn't in the game itself, the games will probably only be in Japanese.

It doesn't take a genius to see that the main unit in Japan is 49,980 yen and the multilingual model is 69,980 yen, a 20,000 yen difference. That's about $138 (1 USD = 145 JPY at the time of writing). In Japan, where inflation is proceeding as expected and where wages remain stagnant and unchanged, it is obvious that increasing the price of the Switch 2 would be economically infeasible. Switch is 32,978 yen. This is a 17,002 yen upcharge for Switch 2, which is a pretty high increase as it is. If you added the cost of the overseas unit, that's suddenly 40,000 yen, which is absurdly high.

Japan is a country where people will definitely respond negatively to a huge price hike nobody can afford. Nintendo is also squarely a Japanese company. Of course, Nintendo is not going to price gouge its customers in Japan.

In similar fashion, Nintendo aggressively targeted scalpers in Japan. Nintendo went out of its way to employ lottery or other purchase restrictions at basically every store in Japan, including their own store. Lotteries, purchase limits, and the complete ban of resale Switch 2 consoles on Rakuten Rakuma, Yahoo! Japan Auctions, and Mercari truly highlights the lengths Nintendo is going to here.

I don't blame Nintendo in the slightest for this.

In Japan, the rating body that governs domestic games for consoles is CERO. If you have never owned a Japanese domestic market game, this is worth noting. Games like The Last of Us: Part 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 have extensive changes between the CERO Z release and the applicable overseas counterparts. These changes typically involve censorship or removal of uncensored genitalia in-line with standard practice around obscenity and nudity in Japan. Additionally, gore and other grotesque elements are often toned down. Sexual elements and themes are reduced or modified.

I mention this specifically because Cyberpunk 2077 is a launch title on Switch 2. If you do what I did, you will end up with the CERO Z version. Be aware of this.