How to Open a Brokerage Account in Japan as a Foreigner

Quick Answer: Foreign residents of Japan can generally open a brokerage account. You need a residence card and a My Number, and in almost every case the application and the trading platform are Japanese-only. Most people hold a 特定口座 alongside one NISA — one per person, nationwide. The catch: both are legally tied to residency, so leaving Japan changes everything.

You've decided to invest and you've read about which fund to choose. Before any of that matters, you need somewhere to hold it — a 証券口座, a securities account. This is the step where foreign residents hit friction that no Japanese colleague will warn you about: an application form with no English, a residence card that expires too soon, a US passport that quietly closes off part of the product menu.

None of it is a real barrier. But the choices you make at account-opening — which account type, which broker, whether you think about your exit — are surprisingly hard to reverse later.

This is educational information, not financial or tax advice. Rules, requirements, and broker policies change, and every firm sets its own terms — confirm the specifics with the provider, the FSA, the NTA, or a qualified professional. We stay neutral on brokers; the firms named below are examples chosen because they publish their rules for foreign residents, not recommendations.

What do you actually need to open a brokerage account in Japan?

Three things, in practice:

• A residence card (在留カード) — or a Special Permanent Resident Certificate. For foreign nationals this is not one option among several; brokers require it specifically, usually front and back.
• A My Number (個人番号). Securities firms must record your My Number because they file payment records (支払調書) with the tax authorities on your dividends and sales. The Digital Agency's guidance confirms My Number is required on the payment records prepared by securities companies, and that firms may collect it at account opening.
• A second form of ID at most firms — driver's licence, passport, health insurance card, or a 住民票.

The detail that trips people up is residence-card validity. Several brokers refuse to open an account if your card is close to expiry. Monex requires at least two months remaining, unconditionally. SBI requires two months or more for residents on a fixed status of residence, but only a currently-valid card for permanent residents. Interactive Brokers' Japan entity requires six months or more from the application date. Rakuten's identity-document page states only that the card must be within its validity period, with no minimum given.

A related trap: at Monex, if your registered residence period lapses, new purchases and withdrawal instructions are blocked until you re-submit the card. Renewing your visa and forgetting to tell your broker can freeze your own money.

One more document note: the old 通知カード (My Number notification card) is treated inconsistently. Rakuten explicitly rejects it as identification; Interactive Brokers explicitly accepts it as proof of My Number. Check before you photograph anything.

Which account type should you open — and why does 特定口座 matter?

This is the question most guides skip, and it decides whether you file a tax return every year.

When you open a Japanese brokerage account you choose a tax-handling type:

Under a 特定口座 with withholding, the broker calculates and withholds the tax on each sale, and the National Tax Agency confirms you may then treat that income as not requiring a return. The rate withheld is 15.315% national tax (15% income tax plus the 0.315% reconstruction surtax) plus 5% resident tax — 20.315% in total. You would still file if you want to offset losses against gains held at another broker, or carry losses forward.

For most foreign residents — particularly anyone not yet comfortable with a Japanese tax return — the withholding version removes an annual obligation in a language you may not read. That is a convenience trade, not a tax saving.

A 特定口座 is legally restricted to residents. The NTA defines eligibility as 居住者 (residents) or non-residents with a permanent establishment in Japan. This matters more than it sounds, and we come back to it below.

Separately from the tax-handling type, you can open a NISA account for tax-free growth. The FSA states that anyone living in Japan aged 18 or over — as of 1 January of the year of use — can open one: the test it sets is residence and age, not nationality. The NTA phrases the same test as 居住者等. The FSA is also explicit that only one NISA account per person may exist at a time, across all financial institutions, which is why switching brokers later is an administrative process rather than a click. Current annual limits are ¥1.2m in the accumulation quota plus ¥2.4m in the growth quota, inside an ¥18m lifetime cap — of which no more than ¥12m may sit in the growth quota. See how to start investing in Japan: NISA for beginners.

Is any of this actually available in English?

Mostly, no — and it's worth being blunt about it, because the marketing suggests otherwise.

Across three of the largest domestic online brokers, we could find no official English account-opening flow and no English trading platform. SBI, Rakuten, and Monex publish extensive Japanese documentation for foreign residents; Monex has an English corporate page with no application, pricing, or platform behind it. That is a finding from absence rather than an official statement, but it's consistent across all three.

Interactive Brokers Securities Japan is the exception we found: a full English site with a language toggle, an English application, English NISA documentation, and the same English platforms it uses globally.

The practical consequence: most foreign residents in Japan are completing a Japanese-language application. That's manageable with a translation tool and patience, but plan for an afternoon, not ten minutes.

And one procedural surprise: foreign nationals are pushed off the online application at more than one firm. Monex states that foreign nationals and those with US tax obligations must apply by post — online opening is not available to them. SBI likewise limits foreign-national applications to its postal route. Same firm, same product, a different process depending on your passport.

How do the main brokers differ for foreign residents?

Neutrally, and on published facts only. Every firm below offers NISA; all three domestic firms offer iDeCo. We found no iDeCo offering on Interactive Brokers Japan's site.

Two things this table understates:

Commission-free is conditional. SBI's zero-commission programme requires the internet course and electronic delivery of trade documents. Rakuten's zero course requires consenting to its SOR/R-Cross order routing. Both are genuine conditions, disclosed on the firms' own fee pages and easy to miss. Monex does not offer commission-free domestic cash equities at all: its per-trade course runs ¥55 to ¥1,070, with a separate daily-flat course from ¥550. NISA trades are free.

US citizens and green-card holders face real restrictions. SBI accepts US persons but restricts certain products. Rakuten restricts all foreign stocks for US persons, citing its lack of US registration. Monex goes furthest: customers with US tax obligations cannot open a foreign-stock trading account, and cannot trade foreign stocks, foreign investment trusts, or foreign bonds. If you're a US person, confirm the current product list with the firm directly before opening — and note the separate PFIC problem with Japanese investment trusts covered in how to choose a fund in Japan.

Once the account is open, work out what you can realistically feed into it each month with the Japan Salary Tax Calculator — headline salary and investable income are very different numbers.

What happens to your account if you leave Japan?

This is the foreigner-specific catch, and the single best reason to think about it on day one rather than in your final month.

Your 特定口座 closes itself. Because it's legally limited to residents, the NTA treats a holder who leaves Japan and ceases to be a resident as having filed a 特定口座廃止届出書 — the account is deemed abolished. You don't get to choose.

Your NISA can survive, but only under narrow conditions. The rule, per the NTA:

• You must file a 継続適用届出書 with your broker before you leave.
• It applies to someone leaving Japan temporarily due to 「転任の命令その他これに準ずるやむを得ない事由」 — a transfer order from your employer or a comparable unavoidable reason. Brokers apply this narrowly: Rakuten and Monex both limit continuation to employer-ordered overseas transfers (Rakuten also lists departure on public duty) and accompanying spouses. A self-directed move or study abroad generally doesn't qualify.
• Tax-free treatment continues until the earlier of the day you file a 帰国届出書 on return, and 31 December of the year containing the day five years after you filed the 継続適用届出書.
• You cannot buy anything while abroad. Securities acquired between departure and filing your return notification cannot be accepted into the NISA account.
• If you never file the return notification in time, you are deemed to have filed a 非課税口座廃止届出書 and the NISA account is closed.

Your general account depends on broker policy, not law. We found no Japanese law flatly barring a non-resident from an ordinary securities account — but brokers refuse anyway, because they aren't licensed in your new country. What they do with an existing account varies sharply:

• SBI: no new accounts for non-residents; existing holdings can be kept and sold, but not bought. Critically, if you become a non-resident without completing the paperwork, SBI states it may sell or settle your holdings at its discretion, for your account. That is forced liquidation on someone else's timing.
• Rakuten: triggered by an absence of a year or more (183 days for the US). Domestic holdings become sell-only; foreign stocks and bonds can be neither bought nor sold.
• Monex: the strictest published policy — the account becomes dormant with withdrawals only, and selling generally not possible. Notification is required 11 business days before departure.

Read that Monex line twice. "You can't sell" means a market fall during your first year abroad is something you watch rather than something you act on.

If leaving Japan is realistic for you within a few years, that should influence what you buy as much as where you hold it — and it interacts with your pension too. See getting your pension refund when leaving Japan and the overview at how to invest in Japan as a foreigner.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a foreigner open a brokerage account in Japan?

Yes. Residency, not nationality, is the test. The FSA states that anyone living in Japan aged 18 or over as of 1 January of the year of use can open a NISA account, with no nationality condition, and brokers open general securities accounts for foreign residents who provide a residence card and My Number.

Do I need a My Number to open a securities account?

Yes, in practice. Securities firms file payment records with the tax authorities on your dividends and sales, and those records must carry your My Number, so firms collect it at or shortly after account opening. If you have a residence card and are registered at a municipality, you have a My Number.

Can I open a Japanese brokerage account before I arrive in Japan?

No. Brokers limit account opening to people resident in Japan — SBI and Monex both state this explicitly — and you'd have neither a residence card nor a My Number. Open the account once you've registered at your municipal office and received both.

How many NISA accounts can I have?

One, across all financial institutions, held at a single firm — the FSA is explicit: 口座は１人につき１口座のみ. You can't split the accumulation quota and the growth quota between two brokers. Changing providers is possible but is a formal procedure, so it's worth choosing carefully at the start.

What happens to my NISA if I move abroad?

If you're leaving temporarily on an employer transfer or comparable unavoidable reason, filing a 継続適用届出書 before departure keeps the tax exemption running until you file a return notification or until 31 December of the year five years after filing, whichever comes first. You cannot buy anything in the meantime, and if you don't return in time the account is treated as closed.

Should I choose the withholding or non-withholding account?

That depends on your situation, not on a general rule. A 特定口座 with withholding means the broker calculates the 20.315% tax and you generally don't need to file for those gains; without withholding, or in a 一般口座, you file. Confirm your own case with the NTA or a tax professional.

PlanTogetherFI is for educational planning only. It is not financial or tax advice, and we don't recommend specific brokers or products. Broker requirements, fees, product restrictions, and account rules change frequently and differ by firm — verify current terms directly with the provider, and confirm your tax position with the NTA or a qualified professional.

Sources and further reading

• FSA — NISA: how to start (eligibility, one account per person): fsa.go.jp/policy/nisa2/about/nisa/start
• FSA — NISA frequently asked questions (leaving Japan; no purchases while abroad): fsa.go.jp/policy/nisa2/question
• NTA No.1535 — NISA制度 (age and residency test, annual and lifetime limits): nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shotoku/1535.htm
• NTA No.1476 — 特定口座制度 (withholding vs non-withholding, 15.315% + 5%): nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shotoku/1476.htm
• NTA — NISA Q&A (継続適用届出書, five-year limit, 帰国届出書, deemed closure): nta.go.jp/publication/pamph/pdf/nisa_qa01.pdf
• NTA — 源泉徴収のあらまし（令和2年版） (特定口座 limited to residents; deemed abolition on departure): nta.go.jp/publication/pamph/gensen/aramashi2020/pdf/11.pdf
• Digital Agency — My Number, private-sector treatment: digital.go.jp/en/policies/mynumber_faq_04
• Broker requirements and non-resident policies as published by each firm: SBI証券, 楽天証券, マネックス証券, and Interactive Brokers Securities Japan.

Requirements, fees, and product restrictions reflect each firm's published terms as of August 2026 and change often. Confirm directly with the provider and with the NTA before acting.