Young Japanese Investors, Bucking Their Elders, Embrace Stocks
A revamped kind of account attracts millions, especially women.
Mari Matsuo, who helped found an investment education business for women.
Photographer: Takako Kido for Bloomberg Markets
Chihiro Kuga is taking a financial step that would be commonplace in the US or Europe but represents a revolutionary change in her country, Japan. In January, she opened a brokerage account, which now has a balance of about ¥100,000 ($673).
Only 19 years old, Kuga has already passed along advice to her elders. “My father and mother are starting to realize that just depositing money in the bank or keeping cash on hand isn’t a great idea, but they don’t have a lot of knowledge about what to do,” says Kuga, a student at Meiji University in Tokyo, where she belongs to an investment club.