The good news: Nomura Securities actually does allow Americans to buy U.S. domiciled products (the rumors were true). I tested it and it worked (see attachment).
The bad news: Nomura Securities does not allow anyone to buy foreign products through NISA ([FAQ](https://faq.nomura.co.jp/app/answers/detail/a_id/539/~/%E6%96%B0nisa%E3%81%A7%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E6%A0%AA%E5%BC%8F%E3%80%81%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E6%8A%95%E4%BF%A1%E3%82%82%E8%B2%B7%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B%EF%BC%9F)). Oops!
The verdict: NISA doesn’t look like it works any better with Nomura Securities for Americans than any of the brokerages that do not allow Americans to purchase U.S. listed products.
Next steps / the good news addendum: a user on [the discord server](https://discord.gg/Xc7nEk3XMc) very helpfully pointed out that aside from Nomura Securities, they had heard that SMBC Nikko Securities and Daiwa Securities also had no particular restrictions on U.S. taxpayers investing in U.S. domiciled products. Earlier today, I called SMBC Nikko Securities to request application forms (Americans are conveniently excluded from online applications), and also ask a few questions, and the operator checked with their people and came back with the following: (i) U.S. taxpayers have to fill out additional paperwork regarding tax identification number and whatnot, but there are no particular restrictions on them opening an account or trading U.S. listed products, (ii) it is possible to buy foreign domiciled products through NISA with SMBC Nikko Securities, BUT you must have a 総合コース tier account which comes with higher fees, and you must purchase the foreign products by phone or in person at your (specific) branch of the brokerage. Naturally I told them to sign me right up.
Background: I am not very well-versed in investing, but I have been interested in exploring saving schemes like iDeco and NISA (but have been disappointed to hear that they are not very much available / have little to no value for U.S. taxpayers compared to everyone else). Recently, though, I came across some blog posts / reddit comments that highlighted that there could be a small but existing tax upside for Americans ([15% US](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409) vs. [20.315% Japan](https://www.nta.go.jp/publication/pamph/koho/kurashi/html/04_5.htm) long term capital gains tax) that could be taken advantage of decently through NISA, if said U.S. taxpayer could find a brokerage that allowed Americans to trade U.S. listed products and thus access ETFs and such without stepping into PFICs. Many blog posts and comments cited Nomura Securities as a known example of a Japanese brokerage that was both NISA capable and also allowed Americans to invest in U.S. domiciled products and as such would theoretically be a good option (or the only known option) for U.S. taxpayers to decently take advantage of NISA, so that was my first stop. Too bad!
Hopefully I have better luck with SMBC Nikko Securities. If any other Americans have tried this with them, I would be curious to hear. I would be happy to post an update, but what with opening the new account and cancelling my Nomura NISA account and applying to change to a new institution, it will probably take quite a while.
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https://preview.redd.it/mimx8ildoh1c1.png?width=1176&format=png&auto=webp&s=30f57abc108a3a1fade72d3945cbbe532cf45d34
by nyang-a-chi