In Japan, Epiphone has released a number of custom models for the local market only. I don't know about this one, but there is a series called YEC (Yamano Epiphone Custom) that has some really cool models.
For guitars, they all have the open book headstock (although a bit different than the Gibson head) and a bunch of custom colors. I also remember a series called "YEC Lacquer" that was all nitro finish. And some models that were very period correct, like this Bird I guess.
Yamano Gakki company is one of Epiphone Japan owners, and were also owners of the Orville brand. I don't know for sure, but I think all the Orvilles, YECs and Elite were built by the Terada and the FujiGen factories.
The last time I was in Japan (mid 2005) I remember seeing some of this YEC guitars on the stores. At the time I wasn't too much excited about T-Birds as I AM NOW (thanks to you guys here, I guess...), but I distinctively remember a very cool Blue Metallic T-Bird (the modern type) that grabbed my attention for a few seconds, just until I saw a used Sunburst Rivoli at the same price