Japanese Stock Trading
Not for Gaijins (foreigners)

Several times from 1999 to 2002, when myself and several friends of mine tried to open a brokerage account in Japan to trade Japanese stocks, we were politely refused.  One employee of a well known Japanese brokerage firm spent 2 hours trying to explain to my Japanese friend and myself why they could not open an account for me.  However, the flaws in his reasoning made me doubt if he was speaking the truth.

After I came back from Japan, I tried to contact several more online Japanese stock trading firms.  However, once again, they would not open an account for me.

This might be a sign of extreme pessimism towards the current Japanese stock market, or a sign of something else, which could not be explained.  The reason is that foreign mutual funds and hedge funds can still purchase and sell Japanese equities at ease, while foreign individual investors cannot.  Although one can open a brokerage account in Hong Kong or Singapore to purchase Japanese stocks, Gaijins can't trade Japanese stocks through a Japanese brokerage in Japan.

Any ideas why?

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