Japanese retail traders double Tokyo volumes chasing AI fever

Japanese day traders have pushed Tokyo Stock Exchange volumes to ¥4-4.5 trillion daily, nearly doubling last year's ¥2-2.5 trillion as AI mania grips retail investors. The surge bypasses traditional exchanges entirely, with off-exchange trading systems capturing 10-20% of volume in hot AI names as brokers route orders through internal matching engines. This mirrors the U.S. Meme stock boom but with a structural twist: expanded NISA tax-advantaged accounts let millions funnel savings into volatile semiconductor and robotics stocks just as the Bank of Japan keeps rates near zero.