Japanese equities enter 2026 with supportive political, economic and policy conditions, underpinned by the new Takaichi administration and strengthened US-Japan ties. Shareholder activism and M&A activity should also continue as Japan’s corporate landscape evolves. Taken together, these developments suggest 2026 will be another constructive year for Japanese equities.

On October 4, Sanae Takaichi was elected to be the first female president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This follows the LDP’s two defeats in the national elections over the past 12 months under the previous leadership…

When we look back over the past five years, Japanese equity markets have done quite well, with the TOPIX index rising 79% (or 10.8% annualised) since January 2020 through August 2025. This has been a dynamic period for equities, with no shortage of catalysts driving market sentiment. 

With the whole world watching every move made by the Trump administration on tariffs, in Japan there are other things happening behind the headlines, independent of the outcome of trade negotiations. This year marks the tenth anniversary since the introduction of Japan’s Corporate Governance Code, as part of a broader effort to overhaul corporate performance by improving capital efficiency, adding accountability and oversight, and increasing transparency and shareholder engagement.

You may be like me and get frustrated with the rapidly evolving headlines in the financial press as quotations from political leaders drive bouts of volatility. But there is one headline that persists, and it’s about the relative merits of active investing versus passive alternatives.

Nature-related risks and opportunities are rising fast on the global investment agenda. Yet for many investors, finding scalable, credible ways to finance biodiversity remains a challenge. Sovereign green bonds may offer one of the most effective channels to direct capital toward nature-positive outcomes—at scale, and with transparency.

It’s perhaps an understatement to say things have been eventful since the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Along with the implementation of “Trump Tariffs’ that has threatened to upend the global order, the new administration has spearheaded a resetting of sustainability initiatives which has been playing out both at the government and corporate level.

In March 2024, after the Nikkei Index reached an all-time high, Japan Equity Investment Director Junichi Takayama offered five structural reasons why Japan’s economic resurgence was more than just a flash in the pan (read the full article here). Almost a year later, those five reasons remain just as relevant for investors considering an allocation to Japan, as Junichi explains.

Travel and holidays are important to many people as they represent a break from the norm, a chance to escape mundane reality and experience something exciting and possibly exotic. They are a chance to reconnect with family and friends away from the stresses of daily life and can provide significant benefits for our physical, mental and emotional health.

Climate change is not the only environmental threat to how we live, work and interact with our planet. Our economic system is based on a model of take, make and waste that consistently over-utilises and fails to replenish Earth’s valuable, but dwindling resources.

By the Nikko AM Green Bond Team, 25 October 2023 “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.” Those were the words of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in a recent speech at the UN headquarters in New York City. And it has certainly been a chastening few years […]