Online trade among individual investors has played a significant role in the recent recovery of Japanese share prices.
Japan's improved economic environment, along with modest brokerage commissions for online trade, have been cited as major factors that have drawn individual investors to the stock market.
"The biggest factors contributing to the rise in the number of individual stock investors are improved economic fundamentals in Japan and larger trading via the Internet," said Yutaka Miura, deputy head of the equity information division at Shinko Securities Co.