How silver is priced in Japan
In Japan the retail silver price (銀価格) is quoted in yen per gram. Major dealers such as Tanaka Kikinzoku publish a tax-inclusive retail selling price (店頭小売価格（税込）) and a tax-inclusive buy-back price (店頭買取価格（税込）) each business day. The figures on this page are the international silver spot price converted into yen at the live exchange rate. They do not include the 10% consumption tax or dealer spreads, so a dealer's per-gram retail price will be higher.
Consumption tax and income tax on silver
Silver bullion and silver jewellery are taxed at the standard 10% consumption tax rate. They do not qualify for the reduced 8% rate. Japanese dealers publish both their selling and buy-back prices including tax, so when you sell silver back to a dealer the price you receive also includes consumption tax. Profits from selling precious metals held as personal assets are generally taxed as capital gains (譲渡所得) under comprehensive taxation. The National Tax Agency's dealer reporting rule for payments over ¥2 million is defined for gold and platinum bars and coins (金地金等).
How Japanese dealers price silver
Japan has no exchange-set retail silver price. Tanaka Kikinzoku publishes bullion prices on business days at 9:30 and 14:00 Japan time, and can revise them during the day if overseas prices or the yen move sharply. Other refiners, such as Tokuriki Honten, publish their own silver prices. Silver investors should note that Tanaka currently sells silver only within its Tanaka Kikinzoku Sogo Koza account (田中貴金属 総合口座), and its physical bar range covers gold and platinum, not silver. To buy physical silver bars or coins you need another dealer. Spreads on silver are wide compared with gold.
Silver marks: SV1000, SV925 and others
Japanese silver is stamped with "SV" plus the fineness in parts per thousand. SV1000 (also written 純銀 or SV999) is pure silver, SV950 is 95%, SV925 is sterling silver (also marked STERLING) and SV900 and SV800 are lower grades. The Japan Mint (造幣局) offers a hallmark that certifies fineness, including for silver at 1000, 950 and 925. Hallmarking is voluntary, so an item without a mint hallmark is not necessarily fake. The purity selector in the calculator above converts each grade into pure silver content.
Units and buying habits
Prices are normally per gram, but some older and specialist trades still use the traditional unit monme (匁, 3.75 g), best known today from the pearl trade. Bullion is sold by the gram, in bar sizes from small ingots up to 1 kg. Many Japanese investors prefer a silver accumulation account over physical metal because it avoids storage problems. If you sell used silver jewellery or tableware to a buyer (買取店), expect payment based on the hallmark or a test result, multiplied by the day's per-gram buying price.
Tax and duty information last reviewed October 2026. Rules change — confirm with your dealer or tax authority before a large purchase.