Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has expanded its investments in Japan, raising stakes in Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. The news from the trading houses sent shares across the sector higher on Aug. 28, 2025.
Increased Holdings in Mitsubishi and Mitsui
A Berkshire unit boosted its voting rights stake in Mitsubishi to 10.23%, up from 9.74% in March, according to a Mitsubishi statement. Mitsui separately confirmed that Buffett’s firm also lifted its holding, though it remained below 10%. As of March, Berkshire owned 9.82% of Mitsui shares, Bloomberg data revealed.
“We see this additional acquisition as a sign of the firm’s continued confidence and trust in our company,” a Mitsui spokesperson said in an email. Mitsui management also revealed that the company will further strengthen its business portfolio.Shares in Japanese trading houses rallied following the announcement.
Buffett’s Confidence in Japan’s Trading Houses
Buffett has steadily built positions in Japan’s five biggest trading firms — Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, Itochu, and Sumitomo — since first disclosing them in 2020. These conglomerates span industries from oil and gas production to salmon farming and convenience stores.
“Berkshire’s continued ownership has brought renewed attention” to Japan’s shoshas, said Norikazu Shimizu, analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities, as quoted on Bloomberg. The firms are becoming “more proactive” in returning value to shareholders, including through buybacks, he noted.
Relaxation in Stake Ceiling
Berkshire originally intended to cap its holdings below 10%. However, in Buffett’s February annual investor letter, he noted that Japanese companies had agreed to “moderately” relax that limit.
Time for Japan ETFs?
Although the Japanese central bank has been hiking rates lately, going against the trend of most central banks, rates are still low in Japan – a key factor normally required for the stock rally. Moreover, the Japanese economy has been in decent shape.
Japan’s GDP grew 0.3% sequentially in Q2 of 2025, accelerating from an upwardly revised increase in Q1 and surpassing market expectations, both of which stood at 0.1%. It marked the fifth successive quarterly expansion.
Japan ETFs including First Trust Japan AlphaDEX Fund FJP, iShares MSCI Japan Value ETF EWJV, WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend Fund DFJ, iShares MSCI Japan Small Cap ETF SCJ and Franklin FTSE Japan Hedged ETF FLJH have outperformed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY over the past one month.
Attractively-Valued Shares Despite Recent Surge
Despite the recent surge, Japanese stocks remain attractively valued, particularly compared to U.S. stocks. The ETFs like FJP, EWJV, DFJ, SCJ and FLJH have a P/E ratio of 16.29X, 14.37X, 15.27X, 19.4X, and 21.85X respectively against the S&P 500’s P/E of about 33.75X.
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SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend ETF (DFJ): ETF Research Reports iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF (SCJ): ETF Research Reports First Trust Japan AlphaDEX ETF (FJP): ETF Research Reports Franklin FTSE Japan Hedged ETF (FLJH): ETF Research Reports iShares MSCI Japan Value ETF (EWJV): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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