BBJP vs DBJP

BBJPAJPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF

DBJPBXtrackers MSCI Japan Hedged Equity ETF

In short

BBJP Japan's whole board for 0.19% a year. JPMorgan's BetaBuilders fund holds roughly 170 large and mid-cap Japanese stocks and has grown into a multi-billion-dollar way to own Tokyo without paying legacy-tracker prices.

DBJP A yen hedge wrapped around the whole Japanese market. DBJP holds a standard MSCI Japan basket of roughly 170 large and mid-cap names and hedges the yen back to dollars, so the currency stops driving the result.

Stated mandate

BBJP The fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the performance of a Japan-focused equity index.

DBJP The Fund passively seeks to track an index representing the Japanese equity market while reducing exposure to movements between the Japanese yen and U.S. dollar.

Why people hold it

• BBJP 0.19% a year, well under what the older iShares Japan trackers (EWJ at 0.49%, JPXN at 0.48%) charge for similar broad exposure.
• Roughly 170 Japanese large and mid caps in one line item, tracking a Morningstar Japan index closely rather than making stock calls.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which tends to keep the cost of getting in and out modest.
• Running since 2018 and one of the stronger implementations in the single-country Japan group.

• DBJP The hedge is written into the benchmark, not left to a manager's currency call: the fund tracks the MSCI Japan US Dollar Hedged Index and aims to strip out yen versus dollar moves by rule.
• Costs 0.45% a year, below the median for Japan funds. Not the cheapest shelf in the aisle, but you are not paying a premium for the hedging plumbing.
• Trading since 2011, which makes it one of the longer-running yen-hedged Japan funds and gives it a record across several very different chapters for the yen.
• Broad, not boutique: roughly 170 Japanese stocks rather than a handful of exporters, so the portfolio reads as the market itself with the currency taken out.

Worth knowing

• BBJP One country, one market cycle. Japan-only equity means no cushion from anywhere else when Tokyo has a bad stretch.
• Not the cheapest ticket to Japan: Franklin's FLJP runs 0.09%, and FLJH is the currency-hedged option in the same peer set.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, not quarterly, so income arrives in lumps.

• DBJP The hedge cuts both ways. When the yen strengthens against the dollar, you give up the tailwind an unhedged Japan fund would pick up.
• Cheaper hedged competition exists. Franklin's FLJH runs the same basic idea at 0.09%, a wide gap against DBJP's 0.45% over long holding periods.
• Thinly traded next to the category's heavyweights, so bid-ask spreads and order size matter more here than with the largest Japan ETFs.

Full BBJP profile⁠

Full DBJP profile⁠