In a previous post I had mentioned that a Japanese REIT was going IPO. I was wondering how I could get in on the action. It seems like a good idea - the Dollar should weaken against the Yen and Japan’s Real Estate should appreciate after almost a decade and a half of stagnation.
It seems its rather more difficult than it is in the US. Unless you buying a stock that trades as an ADR, you need to open an account that allows you to purchase stocks on a foreign exchange. Luckily I had already an account with Interactive Brokers to buy Australian dollars which allows me to trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Unfortunately, there’s a 13 hour time difference and so the trades have to be placed in the evenings. Also its a little bit trickier than placing trades through a US online-trader and there’s no phone support [although there is online chatting] and the Tokyo Stock Exchange doesn’t really provide much information about the individual stocks.
