It has been possible to do this for several months now, when they started Beta testing their platform all you needed was the money and ask to be included. It was rolled out to the public a few weeks ago.

Three things that I dont like about it are

com. = about $30

loose around 1%-2% when exchanging $ to Yen

about $50K for every trading unit (that is 100 shares of Nintendo stock, ticker 7974) this is the smallest puchase allowed.

But in the end I think it is better way to own than NTDOY.

1. why do you lose 1-2% on exchange?  is that a foreignexchange fee?

2. why would 7974 be better to own than NTDOY?  there could be price discrepencies and liquidity issues if and when nintendo decides to officially sponsor an ADR, but in theory they should performed equally well.  and then there's the 1-2% factor to consider.

1. It looks like a way for Etrade to make money off the exchange.

2. Better liquidity, better spreads, ADR's can't trade on margin. You can't get in on the NTDOY intraday movement like you can 7974, because it tracks 7974 closing price.

A good thing about NTDOY is you almost always can guess where it will trade at the next day by tracking the 7974 closing price and exchange rates.

There is not much real difference between the two if you are just planning on holding them long term. With the exception of margin allowing you to double up.

margin: oh, that's nice to know.  i have no idea how my etrade account calculates how much i can trade on margin, since the number they list don't add up quite right (the number seem too high!), after accounting for this ADR business...  not that i would trade on margins all that much, but maybe it's time for me to read the fine print.

1-2%: man, that's a huge rip-off.  oh well, if there's a stock you can't otherwise trade, i guess that's the price you'd have to pay.

By spreads I mean bid and ask price. Thats what speads are. Market Makers make a killing off pink sheet spreads.

hmmm, i don't think i was asking about spread, which is something i know, and yes, that's how market makers make money.  i was referring to what you meant by "You can't get in on the NTDOY intraday movement like you can 7974, because it tracks 7974 closing price."  ?

well, 5% bounce back in 7974. sigh, why did TTWO have to drop the bombshell today?

of course, it may have nothing to do with TTWO--GTA is but one game. but it's clear that nintendo's got an easier x'mas now than before.

When you started this thread, didn't $55 a share of NTDOY seem great?  I imagine we will see another big surge in October when the next set of quarterly results are released. 

BTW etrade already supports buying 7974 on the TSE, you just have to open an international account.  Through your current brokerage account click: Trading and Portfolio > Global Trading > then open account.  You can see live quotes on the TSE without adding any money.  The currency conversion fee is steap, so only move money over that you will invest.

I wonder how much longer the "Wii fad" will continue to blind consumers to the PS3's superior power and graphics and the potentual of the blueray player? 

It is hard to believe, but Nintendo will very likely sell 16 million Wii before the end of this year.  By March 2008 they may have sold 20 million of them.  YOY earnings may be up 3 or 4 hundred percent.  Sounds like something that happened on Mulberry Street.

This market is nuts. Up big one day, down big the next. We are still doing great, but the market is whipping us around like a rag doll. It could be worse I guess. At least we aren't getting beat down like Sony.

Had a look today. Ninty seems to have weathered the storm quite well, but Sony has suffered. Back to the same level they were back in 2003 (approx 5500 yen).

I bought some cheap shares here in Oz yesterday (dividend hits in a week...).