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The commission rates and offers by internet brokerages seem to be the most compelling. The account opening procedure is straightforward. There is a simple form in Japanese, requiring basic information, which can be completed online and submitted. You then receive the completed form in the post for signing, and return that with a copy of proof of identity.

Before the advent of the internet and full equities commisson liberalisation, which took place in 1999, the small investor in Japan faced a charge of 2 percent or so in equities commission. Now the rate is typically less than 0.2 percent with some brokers even giving the smallest trades for free as part of special offers.

There are a variety of commission rate packages available from the leading internet brokers and some are very appealing because they allow smaller amounts of money to be invested very cheaply. So a commission charge of say yen 525 on investing yen 500,000 is achievable. In addition there is no transaction tax payable.

As an international comparison, in the UK a competitive internet broker charges the equivalent of yen 2500 minimum per trade plus there is a transaction tax on purchases of 0.5 percent, which is cheap but Japan is even cheaper in this respect.

We suggest you look at an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) or a Real Estate Investment Trust (J-REIT) to start with as an initial investment. They spread your risk as they hold a range of investments themselves, ETF holding a range of shares and a REIT a range of properties and buildings.

This section will introduces a savings technique called money averaging, where you regularly save the same amount of money into say an ETF. You are not attempting to time the market, that is guess whether it is cheap or expensive, but invest an equal amount each month.