Japanese stocks have done very well in 2012 and of course the weakening yen has increasingly more to do with the rally; deservedly so for the people of Japan. Otherwise, and unless Japanese stocks continue to do well, they could become neglected once again. Not necessarily a bad thing for value investors, and regardless of the rally to-date, valuations in Japan remain extremely compelling. Allow me to introduce my book, Investing in Japan: No stock market is as undervalued and as misunderstood as Japan, just released this month.
Within Investing in Japan I discuss the following, among many other points:
- brief overview of value investing (helpful to those less familiar; hearing its merits is never redundant to practitioners)
- challenge the conventional wisdom of Japan being on its last leg (a kind way of putting it compared to some others’)
- comprehensive overview of investing in Japan including various must-know idiosyncrasies
- the shortcomings of Japan-focused mutual funds and ETFs (as well as the odd marketing of funds to Japanese investors)
- everything you need to know about ADRs
- review of select value shops’ investing in Japan and value-focused Japanese funds
- hedge funds’ activities in Japan
- discuss the oft-cited matter of low returns on equity
- share some surprising (positive) information on shareholder rights and corporate governance