DBJP vs JPXN

DBJPBXtrackers MSCI Japan Hedged Equity ETF

JPXNAiShares JPX-Nikkei 400 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.

JPXN Most Japan ETFs just buy Tokyo. JPXN follows the JPX-Nikkei 400, an index that screens for profitability and shareholder-oriented practices, making it the corporate-reform cut of Japan rather than plain country beta.

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.

JPXN JPXN seeks to follow an index of Japanese equities that applies profitability and shareholder-oriented practice screens. It is intended to provide targeted exposure to Japan as a single-country allocation.

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.

• JPXN The screen picks on capital discipline, not just size: about 400 Japanese companies filtered for profitability and shareholder-oriented management.
• 0.48% a year, a touch below the typical single-country Japan fund, which is unusual for a screened index rather than a plain market cap build.
• Listed since 2001, it is one of the longer-running US-listed Japan funds, and it has tracked its stated index closely with no side bets.
• Sits among the stronger implementations in a Japan single-country peer group that runs to well over a dozen funds.

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.

• JPXN Broad Japan trackers cost far less: FLJP at 0.09% and BBJP at 0.19%. The profitability and governance screen is what the extra fee buys.
• It trades lightly next to the giant Japan funds, so bid-ask spreads matter more here than with the category heavyweights.
• One country, one screen. Japanese equities only, so it moves with Japan's market and offers no cushion from other regions.

Full DBJP profile⁠

Full JPXN profile⁠