Lost in Translation: How Foreign Residents Can Buy Japanese Stocks Without Speaking Japanese

By Toi Anna - Business Columnist

Japan wants more people to invest. The paperwork still assumes they read Japanese. Here is how non-Japanese speakers can get into the Tokyo market anyway, and the costs that come with each route.

For years, Japan's government has been trying to get its savers out of cash and into markets. In January 2024 it made the tax-free NISA investment account permanent and substantially larger. Since 2023, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has been asking listed companies to manage their businesses with an eye on their cost of capital and share price.

One large group has found it harder to join in: the foreign residents who live, work and pay taxes in the country. At the end of 2025 there were 4,125,395 of them. That is a record, and the first time the figure has passed 4 million. Many earn yen salaries, and many would like to invest those salaries in the market around them. For those who don't read Japanese well, the barrier is rarely legal. It is a sign-up form.

Put simply, non-Japanese speakers are not barred from the Tokyo market. The system just wasn't built with them in mind.

So how does someone who can't get through a Japanese account agreement actually buy shares in Toyota, Sony or a small-cap manufacturer in Osaka? There are three realistic routes. Each involves a trade-off.

The Legal Part Is Easier Than You Think

First, the good news: being a foreigner does not disqualify you. Japan's major online brokerages routinely accept non-Japanese residents.

Take SBI Securities, one of the country's largest online brokers. Its published requirements for foreign nationals are short. Applicants must live in Japan, hold a residence card (zairyu card) that shows a Japanese address and is valid for at least two more months, and provide their My Number, Japan's individual tax identification number.

The FAQ doesn't list a minimum length of residence or any Japanese-language requirement.

The catch is in the process. At SBI, foreign nationals can only apply by postal mail, not through the smooth online sign-up that Japanese citizens use. The forms, the terms, and the follow-up correspondence are in Japanese.

U.S. citizens, green card holders, and U.S. residents face another layer: SBI restricts some products for them. U.S. persons should expect similar treatment at other financial institutions.

In other words, the door is unlocked, but the instructions on it are written in a language many applicants can't read.

Route One: A Japanese Online Broker, With Help

Japan's major online brokerages, including SBI, Rakuten Securities and Monex, are the default choice for local retail investors, and for good reason, offering low fees, NISA accounts and access to the full Tokyo market.

They also offer something foreign residents often overlook: the tokutei koza, or "specified account." In a tokutei account with tax withholding selected, investors can generally choose not to report the gains from that account on a tax return. Filing can still pay off, for example to offset losses in other accounts. It is one of the most useful conveniences in Japanese personal finance.

The main drawback is language. SBI, Rakuten and Monex do not offer English customer support, according to a comparison guide written for expats. Expat investors who use them tend to rely on browser translation to get through account screens, trade confirmations and tax documents.

This approach works until issues arise. A rejected application, a request for more documents, or a phone call about a mismatched address is manageable in your native language. In a second language you only half-read, it can delay account setup for weeks.

Who this route suits: Residents with intermediate Japanese, or with a Japanese-speaking partner or colleague willing to help with the initial setup. After the account is open, day-to-day trading is repetitive enough that translation tools usually cover it.

The trade-off: Investors gain optimal tax convenience and the widest product range. In return, in exchange for giving up English support.

Route Two: Interactive Brokers Securities Japan

For people who want to deal with their broker entirely in English, the most practical option is Interactive Brokers Securities Japan (IBSJ), the Japanese subsidiary of the U.S. brokerage group.

IBSJ is a Japanese broker, and residents of Japan open accounts with it using their residence card. Its FAQ is available in English, and it runs a dedicated English-language support line. It also supports NISA accounts, both the growth and the accumulation types.

On costs, Interactive Brokers publishes a detailed schedule for Tokyo Stock Exchange trades. It lists exchange fees, which vary by market segment (for example, 0.002% of trade value for Prime Market stocks before tax), separately from clearing fees. Investors comparing brokers should be careful not to mistake the low exchange-fee figures for the total cost of a trade.

There is one significant drawback, and IBSJ states it plainly: it does not offer tokutei accounts. Its FAQ says clients "are required to file their own taxes".

In practice, this means an IBSJ client who sells shares at a profit outside NISA has to report the gain on an annual Japanese tax return (kakutei shinkoku), filed in Japanese. The standard tax rate on gains from listed securities is 20.315%. The language problem hasn't gone away. It has moved from the sign-up form to the tax return.

For some residents, particularly those who already file a return because of side income, overseas assets, or a high salary, that is no real extra burden. For others, it is reason enough to accept a Japanese-language broker instead.

A note for those arriving from the U.S. : Americans who already have an Interactive Brokers account at home sometimes assume they can keep using it unchanged after moving. Interactive Brokers serves residents of Japan through its Japanese entity, and expats should report their actual residence to their broker rather than keep a U.S. address on file. Once someone is a tax resident of Japan, gains in a U.S. brokerage account are also taxed in Japan at the flat 20.315% rate on listed securities.

Who this route suits: Residents with little or no Japanese who want English-language service, and who are comfortable filing a tax return (or paying an accountant to do it).

The trade-off: You get English support and global market access. In return, you lose automatic tax withholding.

Route Three: Japanese ADRs Through an Overseas Account

A third approach skips the Tokyo Stock Exchange entirely.

Many Japanese companies can be bought in the United States as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs): dollar-denominated certificates that represent shares of a foreign company and trade in U.S. markets.

Coverage is wider than many investors assume. One regularly updated list counts 361 Japanese ADRs as of May 2026. But the numbers are misleading at first glance. Only 19 of those trade on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq. The remaining 342 trade over the counter (OTC). Trading in many OTC names can be thin, with wide bid-ask spreads.

Some well-known companies have moved from the big exchanges to OTC over the years. Canon, for example, voluntarily delisted its ADRs from the NYSE in March 2023 and kept them trading OTC. Investors should always check a company's current ticker and trading venue rather than relying on old stock screeners.

ADRs have real advantages for English speakers. Research, filings, and trading all happen in familiar U.S. formats, and prices are quoted in dollars.

But the route has limits. As of September 2026, about 3,900 companies were listed on Japan Exchange Group's markets. Most of them have no ADR at all, so small and mid-sized companies are largely out of reach. Investors are also exposed to currency swings twice over: once through the company's yen-based business and again through the dollar price.

Tax residency does not change either. A Japanese resident buying ADRs through a foreign account still owes Japanese tax on the gains, and still needs a broker willing to serve a customer living in Japan.

Who this route suits: Investors who already have an eligible overseas brokerage relationship and want exposure to Japan's largest companies.

The trade-off: You get a familiar environment, but a far narrower selection and, for OTC names, weaker liquidity.

Five Local Customs That Catch Newcomers

Whichever route you choose, the Tokyo market has conventions that confuse investors used to Wall Street or London.

1. Red means up. On Japanese trading screens, rising prices are usually shown in red and falling prices in blue. Bloomberg and Western platforms do the reverse, showing gains in green and losses in red. The Japanese custom is said to come from old commercial practice, when red slips were used for buy orders and blue slips for sell orders. There is no international standard for chart colors, so newcomers should check the legend before panicking over a sea of red.

2. Shares come in lots of 100. The trading unit for domestic stocks was standardized at 100 shares on Oct. 1, 2018. A stock quoted at 5,000 yen therefore needs 500,000 yen, before fees, to buy one standard lot.

3. Daily price limits. Exchanges cap how far a stock's price can move in a day, based on the previous day's closing price. Hitting the upper limit is called stop-daka, and hitting the lower limit is stop-yasu. That can leave investors unable to sell a collapsing stock or buy a surging one.

4. The market takes a lunch break. Tokyo trades in two sessions: a morning session from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. and an afternoon session from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The later close is new. On Nov. 5, 2024, the exchange moved it from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

5. Shareholder perks. At the end of September 2024, 1,494 listed companies, about a third of the total, offered shareholder benefits (kabunushi yutai). These include meal vouchers, discount coupons and product samples. The perks are a popular part of Japanese retail investing culture. For non-Japanese speakers, though, the paperwork that comes with them is usually in Japanese.

What to Watch Before You Start

A few final considerations apply to almost every foreign resident.

Plan your exit, too. NISA accounts are designed for residents of Japan. Under the rules, someone who leaves temporarily, for example on an employer's transfer, can keep existing NISA holdings tax-free by filing a notice before departure. They cannot buy anything new while abroad, and the account is closed if they have not filed a return notice within about five years. Not every financial institution offers this option. IBSJ's FAQ, for instance, says clients who move overseas must close their NISA account. People leaving Japan for good should assume the account will be closed.

Long-term residents with substantial holdings should also know about Japan's exit tax. It can apply when someone leaves the country holding 100 million yen or more in covered assets, if they lived in Japan for more than five years in total during the 10 years before leaving. One detail matters a great deal for foreign workers, though: time spent in Japan under a work-related "Table 1" residence status - categories such as Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Intra-company Transferee, or Business Manager - is excluded from that five-year count. Many residents who have only ever held a work visa are therefore outside the exit tax altogether, however much their assets are worth. Broadly, the five-year clock counts only time spent on a "Table 2" status such as permanent resident, spouse of a Japanese national, or long-term resident.

U.S. citizens face extra complexity. Japanese investment funds that are ordinary choices for local savers may count as "passive foreign investment companies" (PFICs) under U.S. tax rules. The IRS applies that label to a foreign corporation if at least 75% of its gross income is passive, or if at least 50% of its assets produce passive income. PFIC holdings come with reporting on Form 8621. Anyone in this position should get advice from a tax professional who knows both systems before buying anything.

Keep your residence card current. Interactive Brokers requires a valid residence card to open and keep an account. If the card lapses, trading freezes until a current one is uploaded.

The Bottom Line

For a foreign resident who doesn't read Japanese, there is no perfect way into the Tokyo market, only a choice of which problem to live with.

A Japanese online broker offers the smoothest taxes and the widest selection, but the service is in Japanese. Interactive Brokers Securities Japan offers English service and NISA access, but you file your own tax return. ADRs offer comfort and familiarity, but only a small slice of the market.

For most people, the practical answer depends on one question: which would you rather deal with in Japanese, the sign-up or the tax return? Answer that honestly, and the choice of broker largely follows.

As Japan courts more foreign workers, investors, and residents, its financial industry has room to lower the language barrier. Until it does, the market is open to everyone, but only if you're prepared to do some of the translating yourself.

A note on tax: This article is for general information only and is not tax, legal, or investment advice. How you are taxed in Japan depends heavily on your own circumstances - among them your residence status, how many years you have lived in the country, your nationality (U.S. persons face extra rules in particular), and the accounts and products you choose. The rules also change from year to year. Before opening an account or buying anything, consider consulting a qualified tax professional - ideally one familiar with both the Japanese system and, where it applies, the tax rules of your home country.