DBJP vs FLJP

DBJPBXtrackers MSCI Japan Hedged Equity ETF

FLJPAFranklin FTSE Japan ETF

In short

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.

FLJP Japan's whole market for nine basis points. FLJP tracks the FTSE Japan RIC Capped Index across roughly 500 stocks at 0.09%, a fraction of what the typical Japan fund charges.

Stated mandate

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.

FLJP The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the FTSE Japan RIC Capped Index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• FLJP 0.09% a year, against a Japan-cohort median near 0.50%. Same country, same broad exposure, a fraction of the toll.
• Roughly 500 names via the FTSE Japan RIC Capped Index, whose capping rules trim outsized positions so no single stock runs away with the portfolio.
• Running since 2017 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, it tracks its index tightly and ranks among the strongest builds in its Japan peer group.
• Cheaper than the bigger brand-name Japan trackers it competes with, including EWJ at 0.49% and BBJP at 0.19%.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• FLJP The yen rides along. Currency moves hit returns here; Franklin's hedged twin, FLJH, strips that out for the same 0.09%.
• One country, one market cycle. Everything inside depends on Japan, so this is a slice of a portfolio rather than a diversified core.
• Distributions land annually or semiannually, not monthly, so cash flow arrives in lumps.

Full DBJP profile⁠

Full FLJP profile⁠