BBJP vs FJP

BBJPAJPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF

FJPCFirst Trust Japan AlphaDEX Fund

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.

FJP Most Japan ETFs buy the market by size. FJP scores Japanese stocks on growth and value, then holds roughly 100 of the highest scorers, weighted by rank rather than market cap. A stock-picker's rulebook in an index wrapper.

Stated mandate

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

FJP The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX® JapanTM Index.

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.

• FJP The AlphaDEX screen ranks the Nasdaq Japan universe separately on growth and value marks, then keeps about 100 names weighted by rank, so Japan's biggest companies don't automatically get the biggest slots.nasdaqomx.com
• Live since 2011, it is one of the longer-running factor takes on Japanese stocks, and it has grown into a fund holding hundreds of millions of dollars.
• About 100 holdings spread the exposure well beyond a handful of blue chips, and the fund distributes on a quarterly schedule.
• It stays on mandate: a Japan-only equity portfolio built to the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Japan Index, tracking that benchmark closely with no side bets bolted on.

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.

• FJP The screen costs money: 0.80% a year, several times what plain cap-weighted Japan trackers like FLJP and BBJP charge, and at the pricier end of the Japan shelf.
• Thinly traded next to the Japan giants, so spreads and order timing carry more weight here; limit orders exist for exactly this situation.
• One country, one currency, one rulebook. The portfolio can look and behave very differently from Japan's headline cap-weighted indexes in any given stretch.nasdaqomx.com

Full BBJP profile⁠

Full FJP profile⁠