How The Economy Of Japan Could Predict The Next Decade
🇯🇵 Japan · Tokyo
Secondaries in Japan
Japan has one of Asia’s most established private-equity secondary markets — and a set of new mechanisms, from J-Ships to TOKYO PRO Market, aimed at building the same liquidity for startup shares.
2022J-Ships launched, letting qualifying HNWIs invest unlimited sums in unlisted stock
163Companies listed on TOKYO PRO Market, JPX’s professional-investor board (Dec 2025)
¥10TGovernment’s target for annual startup investment by 2027–28
Market and regulatory details per Japan Exchange Group (JPX), the Chambers Venture Capital 2025 Japan guide, and Japan startup-funding reporting, 2025.
Why startup-share secondaries lag the PE market
Japan’s private-equity industry is large and long-running, and secondary transactions — LP stake sales and GP-led continuation vehicles — are a routine part of how that capital recycles, with domestic and international secondary funds active buyers. Unlisted startup-share trading is a different story: brokerage firms are restricted from dealing in private-company shares except in limited circumstances, there’s no standardised transaction process, and Japan lacks an active secondary-share transfer market on the scale of Taiwan’s TIB or Singapore’s ADDX — leaving early investors and employees with fewer structured exit routes than elsewhere in the region.
The mechanisms built to change that
Three initiatives are the ones to watch. J-Ships, launched in 2022, lets qualifying high-net-worth individuals invest unlimited amounts in unlisted stock — aimed squarely at the funding gap mid-to-late-stage, pre-IPO startups face (Japan’s "valley of death"). TOKYO PRO Market, a Japan Exchange Group board reserved for professional investors, had 163 listed companies as of end-2025 — a lighter-touch step toward public markets than a full TSE main-board IPO. And the government’s Startup Development Five-Year Plan targets ¥10 trillion in annual startup investment by 2027–28, versus ¥339.9 billion raised in just the first half of 2025 (already up 4% year-on-year) — the funding base a real secondary market would eventually need.
For now, most startup-share transfers in Japan remain private and negotiated between existing shareholders, employees, and incoming investors, subject to company consent.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Japan’s secondary market mostly private equity or venture?
Overwhelmingly private equity today — LP stake sales and GP-led continuation vehicles are well established. Startup-share secondaries are a smaller, earlier-stage market, though mechanisms like J-Ships and TOKYO PRO Market are starting to build the infrastructure for one.
What is J-Ships?
A scheme launched in 2022 that lets high-net-worth individuals meeting certain income or asset criteria invest unlimited amounts in unlisted stock, intended to close the funding gap facing mid-to-late-stage startups before an IPO.
What is TOKYO PRO Market and can foreign investors use it?
It’s a Japan Exchange Group board designed for professional investors, sitting between fully private and a main-board listing, with 163 companies listed as of December 2025. Foreign institutional and sophisticated investors participate, generally through licensed local intermediaries.
Start with the basics
New to buying and selling existing startup stakes?Secondaries Explained walks through the mechanics, pricing, and pitfalls of secondary transactions in plain language — and it applies across every market on this site, Japan included.