Spot crypto and leveraged crypto derivatives are two different regimes in Japan and both are legal, but each is gated by a licence. Holding and trading spot crypto-assets is lawful; since 1 April 2017 anyone providing exchange services between crypto-assets and fiat inside Japan must be registered as a crypto-asset exchange service provider (暗号資産交換業者) under the Payment Services Act, and the FSA tells users to check that the operator they use is registered.
The FSA also states plainly that crypto-assets are not legal tender. Leveraged products — perpetuals, margin and other crypto derivatives — sit under a second regime: from 1 May 2020 crypto-asset derivative transactions fall under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, and a business carrying them on had to notify the FSA.
The contract itself does not change by geography: a UNI perpetual settles in USDC everywhere.
11 venues open Uniswap perps to traders in Japan.
ApeX
Aster
gTrade
Helix
Hyperliquid
Lighter
Pacifica
Paradex
ReyaFour steps from sign-up to an open position.
Crypto-asset income is assessed as miscellaneous income (雑所得) under the Income Tax Act (所法35). The NTA's own worked example — compensation paid in yen in place of crypto-assets — is taxed 雑所得として課税の対象.
Trading Uniswap from Japan: legal.
For Japan residents trading Uniswap: Crypto-asset income is assessed as miscellaneous income (雑所得) under the Income Tax Act (所法35).
Canborsa offers up to 20x leverage on Uniswap for traders based in Japan.
On Canborsa, Uniswap trading from Japan costs 0.07% per side.