This website assists non- Japanese residents in Japan with Japanese stock investment.
Although Japan’s birth rate is declining and the population is graying, Japanese people are still hardworking and continue to show growth due to quality improvement and cost savings.
In addition, Japanese enterprises have cut off unprofitable businesses through structural reform and are expanding to developing nations by mergers and acquisitions.
I hope this site will help you with investing in Japan.
Note: There are a lot of managers' personal opinions on this site. Knowing this
please make your own final judgment. You should be responsible for your own decisions.
A summary of the Japanese stock market
As you know, there are many successful companies which have excellent technology and management systems in Japan. This includes not only large enterprises, but small and medium-sized firms as well.
Among these 3733 companies are listed.
The Japanese stock market's major price index is The Nikkei 225 Stock Average Index and TOPIX.The Nikkei 225 Stock Average Index tracks the performance of 225 top rated companies listed in the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
TOPIX reflects the performance of stocks with large market capitalization and it is a good measure of overall market performance.
Japan has four main securities exchanges located in Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo.
The Tokyo and Nagoya exchanges have two sections (the first section and second section) and there are also separate sections for startup companies.
Each section has different screening standards, for example there are requirements on the minimum number of shareholders that must purchase shares.
Trading markets in Japan
Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)
A representative trading market in japan.
General market(the firest sections and second sections )
emerging markets(JASDAC/Mazars)
trading schedule on weekday AM9:00-11:30 PM12:30-15:00
Nagoya Stock Exchange
General market(the firest sections and second sections )
emerging markets(sentrex)
Fukuoka Stock Exchange
General marketemerging markets(Q-board)
Sapporo Stock Exchange
General marketemerging markets(ambitious)
The investors of Japanese stocks are divided into categories of Japanese institutional investors, foreign institutional investors, and private investors.
Institutional investors include life insurers trust banks, pension, public funds and so on.
Foreign institutional investors have an especially large influence on the market because they invest large sums of money. They are organized and sometimes very wild.
In contrast, many Japanese private investors are very negative about stock investment.
Although the government encourages individuals to shift their financial assets from savings to investment, more than half of Japanese household savings were kept in banks and post offices.
Investors can be divided into two groups based on their main objective for investing:
1.income gains (in the form of dividend distributions)
2.capital gains
Capital gains and dividends are taxable about 20% respectively.
Can stock investment make money?
Would you be able to make a lot of money on the stock market?
I've sometimes heard that someone’s asset rose double within a year.
Or that someone started investing 300 thousand yen and turned it into 10 million yen.But funnily enough the people like that live frugally in an apartment.
There are only about 10% of people that win in the stock market.
Twenty percent of people break even and the remaining 70% are considered losers.
What’s more, most of the people who make money are professional institutional investors.
Perhaps some experience a lucky streak for a while, but at some point their luck will end with their investment crashing.
I believe it's very grueling for individual investors to consistently profit.
Ultimately, the stock market is an injustice zero sum game.
It is not wise for private investors to directly fight with institutional investors.
Then what should we do?
I believe the best way to invest is when stock exchanges are bearish, buy blue chip income stocks that have a long history of sustained earnings and dividend payments, and then hold that for a long time.
Such stocks remain relatively stable.
Also, stock prices generally rise over the long term if corporate earnings continue to increase, so don't switch frequently.
Nevertheless, If the share price goes up, dividend yields will fall and that is the time to change to a different stock.
On the other hand, if the share price falls, dividend yields will rise. That is the time to buy more of that stock.
Why invest in stocks
What kind of people are successful in investment?
I think most successful investors are curious and enthusiastic.
Their opportunity to start investing is basically wanting to understand the economy, to open their eyes to increase their knowledge rather than make money.
I believe the things we can get through investment go beyond just money.
Although my investment performance has not been as good as it could be , but I’ve learned and gained a great deal of experience through investment.
After many years of experience, I think now especially that my investment experiences has played a large part in my life.Because the stock market is extensive and profound, I believe investment is the most interesting brain training.
I wish you the best in starting your investing journey in Japan.