Not available in the U.S. because Dell can't figure out how much to charge here.

I notice that the Japanese site says support services for corporate customers, 'Dell professional support' is provided, including pickup service for one year, and the deal at the UK site seems to offer just the usual one year phone support. But this still doesn't come close to adding up to the $650 difference in price. I would expect weekly visits from a technician for that

The £235 for the Vostro doesn't include VAT (which is 17.5%) or shipping, whereas the £269 for the Mini 9 does. When it comes down to it the Vostro seems to actually be around £25 more expensive.

Wouldn't be surprised if the same was true with the Japanese pricing (although certainly the profit margin has been significantly boosted too) as I believe the cumulative taxes on businesses are ridiculously high there, no?

It's certainly an interesting descrepancy but the conspiracy nonsense that seems to be floating around the web is patently untrue – Dell is simply a company squeezing as much as they can out of a shiny revamped product aimed at a certain market sector, surely as an American you're well aware of such practices?