September 2026 Japanese Shareholder Perks (Yutai) — 9 Holdings, 13 Cross-Trade Candidates, 11 Odd Lots

This is my record of the Japanese shareholder perks (yutai) that lock in at the end of September 2026. September is the second-biggest month of the year after March — somewhere between 449 and 459 companies are on the list this time. I qualify for nine perks through shares I already own (about ¥26,000 once you strip out the ones you can’t put a price on), and I’ve also worked through 13 cross-trade candidates and the 11 odd lots sitting in my account. Five sections: what I own, what’s worth cross-trading, what I’d actually recommend, my odd lots, and what I got in previous Septembers. If this is your first time, the shareholder perks guide covers the mechanics first.

Last day to buy: Monday, September 28, 2026. Tuesday the 29th is ex-rights day, and the record date is Wednesday the 30th.

Perks I get from shares I own (9)

These are the nine perks I qualify for this September through shares I simply hold. No borrowing costs, and they arrive every year for as long as I keep the shares. They’re split across two brokers, SBI and Rakuten — and that raises a point worth getting straight early. If the same person holds the same stock at several brokers, the company’s shareholder register still sees one shareholder, not several. JASDEC, Japan’s central securities depository, consolidates the records at each record date using your name, address, date of birth and My Number, then reports the combined position to the issuer. So splitting a stock across brokers does not get you the perk twice — but it does mean holdings at different brokers add up toward the 100-share threshold.

Cash-equivalent total: about ¥26,050, plus four bathhouse passes, a 10% discount card and an exhibition ticket that don’t convert cleanly into money.

The biggest change this year is Joshin (8173). Its single-share perk — famous for years as “one share gets you ¥5,000” — ended with the announcement of May 9, 2025. In exchange, the September allocation for holders of 100 shares or more went from 25 vouchers to 50, which is ¥10,000. I hold 101 shares (100 plus one odd share), so I get the expanded tier. The catch is how the card works: you can apply ¥200 per ¥2,000 spent, which is really a 10% discount, and it only resells for 30–50% of face value. This one is worth having if you genuinely shop at Joshin, and not otherwise. Vouchers ship in early December and expire at the end of the following March.

Gokurakuyu HD (2340) is new to my list this year. The company counts a “year” as being recorded on the register under the same shareholder number for three consecutive record dates (end of March and end of September). I’ve been on the register since October 2024, so this September is my fourth consecutive entry, which puts me in the four-pass tier — six passes at five consecutive entries. It isn’t a loan-eligible stock, so you can’t cross-trade it; the only route is to hold the shares and let the count build.

Chikaranomoto HD (3561) also doubles this round. At 100 shares the perk is ¥4,000 once you’ve been recorded three times in a row, against ¥2,000 below that — and September 2025, March 2026 and September 2026 make exactly three. K’s HD (8282) works the same way; it cleared the bar in September 2025 and stays at two vouchers this time.

One to be careful with: Rentracks (6045) cannot be picked up by holding the shares for a single day. You must have held 100 shares or more under the same shareholder number for six months as of the record date — a condition the company added on September 19, 2025. Opening a cross trade in late September does nothing here.

Monex Group (8698) pays out on a single share: 50 points for one share or more, 100 points at 100 shares. The condition is that the shares sit in a Monex Securities account, which is why this one doesn’t appear in either my SBI or my Rakuten list.

※ A note on Isetan Mitsukoshi (3099). September 30, 2026 is both the perk record date and the record date for a 1-for-2 stock split, and the share tiers for the perk change in line with the split ratio (announced August 13, 2026). Check the company’s latest release for the share count and spending cap before you act. I hold 100 shares at Rakuten and one odd share at SBI; after consolidation those count as a single holder with 101 shares.

Cross-trade candidates (13)

These are the ones I don’t own, where the plan is to buy the shares and short the same amount on margin at the same time (tsunagi-uri), collect the perk, and unwind. Past gyakuhibu is what the stock-borrowing premium actually came to on the September record date — yen per share, with the number of days in brackets. Source: invest-jp.net. The figure already has the day count baked in: “11.00(1)” means ¥11.00 in total for one day, so in a three-day year you divide by three to get the daily rate. The peak gyakuhibu is as of September 9, 2026, and the number in brackets is the ceiling that applies on the last qualifying day — usually four times the normal rate, but eight times for Prestige and Kappa Create, so don’t assume four across the board. Worst case is that ceiling multiplied by 100 shares: what you pay if the premium pins to the top.

※ Gyakuhibu is charged for one day this September. A trade on the 28th settles on the 30th and a trade on the 29th settles on October 1 — one day apart. In years where that gap is three days, the same rate costs you three times as much.

※ Gyakuhibu only arises on standardized margin (seido shin’yo). You can’t know the amount in advance and there’s no cap. The ceiling moves with the share price, so the figures above are the ones in force at the time. Broker margin (ippan shin’yo) charges a fixed lending fee instead: trade value × the broker’s annual rate × days ÷ 365.

What I’d actually recommend

Start with the obvious answer: the nine I hold outright are the recommendation. Putting my own money behind them is a clearer statement than anything I could write. After that I’ll go through the ones worth opening a cross trade for. Each entry lists the gyakuhibu that actually landed on the September record date (yen per share, days in brackets), the current ceiling, and the worst case at 100 shares.

🔴 One thing to fix in your head first: judge a perk by what it’s worth after you convert it, not by face value. I learned this the expensive way. Watami has the lightest worst case of anything here at ¥800, but the vouchers only work in the company’s own restaurants — when I sold mine I got ¥690 in 2023 and ¥1,000 in 2024 against ¥4,000 of face value. Priced at what I actually received, it barely clears the worst case. Joshin is the same story: ¥10,000 on paper, 30–50% when resold, so call it ¥4,000. Face value only means what it says when the perk is a QUO card or a digital gift — things that convert at 90% or better.

The nine I hold outright (my actual positions)

• Joshin (8173) — SBI, 101 shares: ¥10,000 at 100 shares or more in September, the largest face value of the nine. The card is a 10% discount in disguise (¥200 per ¥2,000 spent) and resells at 30–50%, so it only pays if you actually shop there
• Waseda Academy (4718) — Rakuten, 100 shares: ¥5,000 in September at about 81% resale, plus ¥1,000 of e-money in March, so twice a year. Seven consecutive entries lifts it to ¥10,000; I’m on my fifth
• Rentracks (6045) — Rakuten, 100 shares: ¥5,000 of digital gift, redeemable as an Amazon gift card, QUO Card Pay, PayPay and others, with the face value intact. Six months of continuous holding is required, so this one can only be held, never cross-traded
• Chikaranomoto HD (3561) — SBI, 100 shares: meal vouchers for the Ippudo group. This is my third consecutive entry, so ¥2,000 becomes ¥4,000. You can switch it to an online-store coupon or a donation instead
• K’s HD (8282) — Rakuten, 100 shares: two ¥1,000 vouchers including the long-holding bonus. Electronics vouchers resell at 70–76%, and there’s a March round as well. Started as an odd lot and has paid double since clearing three consecutive entries
• Gokurakuyu HD (2340) — SBI, 101 shares: new to my list this year — a fourth consecutive entry clears the one-year tier for four free bathhouse passes (six at five entries). Not loan-eligible, so cross trading isn’t an option; you build the count by holding
• Isetan Mitsukoshi (3099) — Rakuten, 100 shares: a 10% discount card that works in the department stores and online. September 30 is also the record date for a stock split, so the share tiers move — check the latest release for the spending cap
• Idemitsu Kosan (5019) — Rakuten, 100 shares: what 100 shares reliably gets is the Idemitsu Art Award exhibition ticket, which goes to every shareholder. The concert recording and KidZania lotteries need 500 shares
• Monex Group (8698) — Monex Securities, 1 share: 50 points for a single share, at essentially no cost. The shares have to sit in a Monex Securities account; anywhere else doesn’t count. Small money, but a rare case of an odd lot earning a perk outright

The ones worth cross-trading this round

Joshin (8173) — the single-share perk is gone, and 100 shares now pays double

• What you get: ¥10,000 in store vouchers at 100 shares or more in September. March is only ¥2,200 at the same share count, so September is the round that matters
• What changed: the announcement of May 9, 2025 ended payouts to anyone below 100 shares and doubled the September allocation from 25 vouchers to 50. This was the stock people knew as “¥5,000 for a single share” — I collected it that way in 2023 and 2024. Once that route closed I topped up to 101 shares, so this round I’m in the expanded tier. Vouchers went digital in an announcement dated May 26, 2026
• Gyakuhibu risk (medium): 0.15(3)／0.15(3)／0.10(1)／11.00(1). It jumped in September 2025. Peak ¥8.4, ceiling ¥33.6 on the day, so ¥3,360 at worst for 100 shares
• The catch: you may apply ¥200 per ¥2,000 spent (tax included) — a 10% discount dressed up as a large number. Counting the ¥10,000 as cash will mislead you. My resale proceeds came to 30–50% of face
• Dates: shipped in early December, valid until the end of the following March
• If you don’t hold it yet: I’m already at 101 shares so I don’t need a cross trade, but for anyone starting fresh this is the largest face value on the September board

Watami (7522) — the quietest gyakuhibu on the list, and it works at an all-you-can-eat yakiniku chain

• What you get: eight ¥500 vouchers at 100 shares, so ¥4,000. They work at Watami, Yakiniku no Watami, Torimero and Miraizaka — and at Kamimura Bokujo, the all-you-can-eat yakiniku chain. Very few buffet restaurants in Japan accept shareholder vouchers at all, which is why this is my favourite way to use them. Dropping a voucher in the donation box in-store counts as ¥150 to charity
• Gyakuhibu risk (low): 0.15(3)／0.15(3)／0.05(1)／0.05(1). The worst of the last four years was ¥0.15, or ¥15 on 100 shares. Peak ¥2.0, ceiling ¥8.0, so ¥800 at absolute worst — the lightest on this list
• Know the limits before you plan around it: at Kamimura Bokujo you may use one voucher per person per day, never at lunch, and there’s no change given. Getting through eight vouchers means eight separate visits; you cannot clear them in one sitting
• The weakness is resale: own-restaurant vouchers don’t travel. I got ¥690 on Mercari in 2023 (17%) and swapped for ¥1,000 of tea in 2024 (25%). At 20%, ¥4,000 of face value is ¥800 — the same as the worst case
• Verdict: if you eat yakiniku, this is the best value on the whole board. If you’re only in it to convert to cash, cheap borrowing costs don’t rescue it

Oriental Land (4661) — 30 years since listing, and 100 shares is enough this once

• What you get: shareholders with 100 shares or more on September 30, 2026 receive one park passport valid through August 31, 2027. No holding period required
• Why that’s unusual: the normal September allocation starts at 2,000 shares, or 100 shares held for three years (seven consecutive entries on the register). Buying 100 shares once and walking away with a passport only works because of the anniversary
• Gyakuhibu risk (treat with care): September reads 0.00(3)／0.00(3)／0.00(1)／1.20(1), which looks calm — but those zeros exist because 100 shares got nothing in September in those years. A year where 100 shares does qualify is a different market. Peak ¥6.4, ceiling ¥25.6, so ¥2,560 at worst. A passport’s value also moves with the calendar, so you can’t settle it against a cash figure the way you can with a gift card
• Why it’s worth it: roughly ¥300,000 for 100 shares in exchange for a one-day passport, with a worst case well under what the passport is worth

Prestige International (4290) — the anniversary perk that doesn’t show up on any September list

• What you get: a ¥3,000 QUO card at 100 shares or more, announced on July 28, 2026 for the company’s 40th anniversary
• Why people will miss it: this company’s normal record date is March only, and the first one isn’t until March 31, 2027 — the perk scheme was reintroduced on May 13, 2026, so the regular version has never actually run. September perk lists filter by record month, which means a stock with nothing but an anniversary perk in September simply isn’t on them. Neither of the two lists I checked included it
• Gyakuhibu risk (low): there is no September history at all. Peak ¥1.4, and the ceiling on the day is eight times that at ¥11.2 — one of the two stocks here where four times is the wrong assumption. ¥1,120 at worst for 100 shares
• Why it’s worth it: under ¥70,000 for 100 shares, returning a ¥3,000 QUO card. QUO cards go anywhere and resell near face. Note that it currently carries a margin-trading caution flag, so check with your broker before you plan a short

Gakken HD (9470) — the 80th-anniversary perk is aimed at people who weren’t holding in March

• What you get: a product set worth around ¥5,000, chosen from a list, at 100 shares or more
• Who qualifies: either ① a new shareholder — not on the register at March 31, 2026, newly recorded at September 30 with 100 shares or more — or ② a shareholder whose position grew by at least 100 shares versus March 31. In other words, if you’ve held since March and haven’t added, you’re not eligible. That’s an unusual way to build a perk
• Don’t forget the application: you have to apply on the web (opens late November 2026) or you get nothing; shipping is December onward. The ordinary points perk needs three consecutive entries, so a cross trade this month won’t produce that one
• Gyakuhibu risk (low): 0.00(3)／0.00(3)／1.35(1)／1.05(1). Peak ¥2.2, ceiling ¥8.8, ¥880 at worst — the most comfortable margin of anything here against a ¥5,000 perk

Buffalo (6676) — ¥5,000 of digital gift, and it converts at roughly 100%

• What you get: ¥5,000 in digital gift value at 100 shares, redeemable as PayPay Money Lite, d Points, au PAY, Rakuten Point Gift, Edy, an Apple Gift Card or a Google Play code — or swapped for own-brand products (limited stock, first come first served). Twice a year, March and September
• Why it’s on the list: it converts at close to 100%, so face value is what you actually receive. That makes it a cleaner proposition than either Joshin or Watami
• Gyakuhibu risk (medium): 0.00(3)／0.00(3)／0.00(1)／6.20(1). Peak ¥6.2, ceiling ¥24.8, ¥2,480 at worst for 100 shares
• Worth knowing: the perk was only introduced in August 2025, then expanded in November 2025, expanded again in February 2026 alongside a stock split, and had items added in March 2026. The scheme is still moving and demand hasn’t settled — March 2026 already saw ¥9.25. There are over 40,000 shares of broker-margin inventory, so that’s the safer route

Yamada HD (9831) — light borrowing costs, but do the maths on the 1,000-share tier

• What you get: in September, two vouchers at 100 shares (¥1,000), six at 500 (¥3,000) and ten at 1,000 (¥5,000). Each voucher is ¥500 and you may use one per ¥1,000 spent including tax, which works out as a straight 50% off
• It resells well: ¥4,097 on Rakuma in 2025 (82% of face) and ¥3,960 net on Yahoo Auctions in 2024 (79%). The best conversion rate among the electronics chains
• Gyakuhibu risk (low): 0.00(3)／0.15(3)／0.05(1)／1.00(1). Peak ¥1.6, ceiling ¥6.4, so ¥640 at worst for 100 shares. Broker-margin inventory runs to over 940,000 shares
• The 1,000-share tier needs checking: 1,000 shares carries a ¥6,400 worst case against a ¥5,000 perk — a loss if the premium pins. The highest it has ever gone was ¥1.00 in 2025 (¥1,000 on 1,000 shares), so in practice it’s fine, but note that going from 100 to 1,000 shares multiplies the vouchers by five and the cost by ten. The 500-share tier is the worst deal of the three (¥3,000 of perk, ¥3,200 worst case). Decide which tier you’re doing before you place the orders

Futaba Industrial (7241) — the only year you can take it with no strings, and it’s still high risk

• What you get: a ¥1,000 QUO card at 100 shares or more. The perk was announced on July 30, 2026
• From next year: September 2027 onward requires a year of continuous holding, judged quarterly — recorded under the same shareholder number at the end of December, March, June and September, five times in a row, with 100 shares or more throughout. Drop below 100 shares at any point and you’re out
• Gyakuhibu risk (high): on paper September has produced no gyakuhibu for four straight years — but that’s because the stock had no perk back then (it was created on July 30, 2026). Exactly like Oriental Land, the zeros don’t carry over. Peak ¥2.2, ceiling ¥8.8, ¥880 at worst on 100 shares — against a perk of only ¥1,000. If the premium pins, there is essentially nothing left. The QUO card converts at 90%, but that can’t rescue a face value this small
• Suggestion: the conditions do allow a one-off cross trade this year. But this is the kind that disappears entirely when it goes wrong, so use broker margin with its fixed fee rather than standardized margin. If you want it every year from here, buying 100 shares outright and holding is the easier way to satisfy the rules

Odd lots I’m holding (11 with September record dates)

Of the 449–459 companies with September record dates, these are the 11 where I hold only an odd lot — fewer shares than one trading unit. The point of an odd lot isn’t the perk; it’s keeping a shareholder number on the register so the years accumulate, then topping up to the required share count on the record date once the condition is met. All of these sit at SBI.

※ An odd lot on its own won’t satisfy a perk condition — most require 100 shares. Whether it helps comes down to three things: which record date the holding condition is tied to, whether the wording says “○○ shares or more”, and whether it’s a bonus or a hard requirement. Among these 11, Shinto Kogyo and Nichiban word their conditions without a share count, so the odd lot does the work; All About and Japan Airlines set their thresholds above 100 shares, so an odd lot has no role to play.

※ Lending your shares through a securities lending programme, or selling out entirely and buying back, breaks the continuity of your shareholder number and resets the count.

※ Gokurakuyu HD (2340), Isetan Mitsukoshi (3099) and Joshin (8173) were all odd-lot positions too, and I’ve since topped each of them up past 100 shares — which is why they’re in the holdings section above. K’s HD (8282) and Monex Group (8698) went the same way. Topping up once the years have accumulated is exactly what odd lots are for, and these five have now been through the full cycle.

What I got in past Septembers

Everything I collected in the last three Septembers, cross trades and outright holdings together.

※ “Converted” is what actually reached me from a ticket shop or a flea-market app, with the percentage of face value in brackets. Outright holdings carry no cross-trade cost, so realised P&L reads “—” and net is simply what I converted (share price movement isn’t counted).

September 2025

September 2024

September 2023

※ Even among electronics retailers, conversion rates swing wildly on the usage terms. Yamada (one ¥500 voucher per ¥1,000 spent) sells at around 80%, while Joshin (¥200 per ¥2,000) fetches 30–50%. Stop reading the face value and read the effective discount rate, and the conversion rates mostly explain themselves.

※ Meal vouchers restricted to a company’s own restaurants (Watami and the like) are worth whatever your plans are worth. Across two years of my own records they converted at around 20%.

Questions people ask

Q. When is the last day to buy for the September 2026 perks, and how many days of gyakuhibu apply?

The record date is Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The last day you can buy and still qualify is Monday, September 28, and Tuesday the 29th is ex-rights day. The number of days is set by settlement: a trade on the 28th settles on the 30th and a trade on the 29th settles on October 1, one day apart, so this round is charged for a single day. In years where that gap runs to three days, the same rate costs roughly three times as much.

Q. What happened to Joshin’s single-share perk?

The announcement of May 9, 2025 ended payouts to holders of fewer than 100 shares. In exchange, the September allocation at 100 shares or more went from 25 vouchers to 50, which is ¥5,000 to ¥10,000. The card lets you apply ¥200 per ¥2,000 spent including tax, so it is really a 10% discount, and when I sold mine on a flea-market app I received 30 to 50 per cent of face value. This is not a stock to judge by the size of the number on the voucher. After the single-share route closed I topped up to 101 shares, so this round I receive the expanded ¥10,000 tier.

Q. Which anniversary perks exist only in September 2026?

I found three. Oriental Land (4661) marks 30 years since listing by giving every holder of 100 shares or more on September 30, 2026 a park passport valid through August 31, 2027. Gakken Holdings (9470) marks its 80th anniversary with a product set worth around 5,000 yen, but only for shareholders who were not on the register at the end of March 2026, or who added at least 100 shares versus that date, and a web application is required. Prestige International (4290) marks its 40th anniversary with a 3,000 yen QUO card. That company’s ordinary record date is March only, so it does not appear on any list of September perk stocks.

Q. Which perks can’t be taken by holding the shares for just one day?

Five in the set I looked at. Rentracks (6045) requires 100 shares or more held for six months, Nichiban (4218) requires being on the register at the end of both March and September in the same year, Gokurakuyu Holdings (2340) requires three consecutive entries, Shinto Kogyo (6339) requires two consecutive September entries, and the ordinary Gakken Holdings (9470) points perk requires three consecutive entries. None of these are satisfied by opening a cross trade on the last qualifying day. Miss the condition and you pay the borrowing cost and receive nothing.

Q. Do odd lots help with September perks?

An odd lot earns no perk by itself. Its job is to keep a shareholder number on the register so that the years accumulate. Whether it helps comes down to three things: which record date the holding condition is tied to, whether the wording specifies a share count, and whether the condition is a bonus or a hard requirement. Among my eleven odd lots, Shinto Kogyo (6339) and Nichiban (4218) word their conditions without a share count, so the odd lot does the work, while All About (2454) needs 300 shares and Japan Airlines (9201) needs 200, which leaves an odd lot with no role. Monex Group (8698) is the exception that pays 50 points on a single share. Once the years have built up, the point is to top up to 100 shares, which is what I have now done with Gokurakuyu Holdings (2340), Isetan Mitsukoshi (3099) and Joshin (8173).

Cross trading needs a brokerage account that offers broker-margin short selling. If you like the shape of this — using a brokerage account to take something at low risk — IPO allocations and off-floor distributions work on the same principle and don’t clash with perk season, so you can run them alongside. While you’re opening the account, buying funds by credit card and selling immediately adds a few thousand yen a month, and opening a brokerage account is itself often a high-value listing on the points sites — worth checking before you sign up anywhere.

If the money these perks free up is heading toward travel, the referral bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Premium currently stands at 111,000 points (through October 5, 2026), the largest on offer right now. Pair it with the Kyoritsu Maintenance hotel vouchers above and the accommodation side takes care of itself.

📖 Coming

SBI Securities Japan's largest online broker! Get 100 V points