FLJH vs JPXN

FLJHAFranklin FTSE Japan Hedged ETF

JPXNAiShares JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF

In short

FLJH Japan stocks with the yen taken out of the equation. FLJH hedges the currency back to dollars for 0.09% a year, the same fee as Franklin's unhedged twin and a fraction of the typical Japan fund.

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

FLJH The Fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the FTSE Japan Capped Hedged Index through passive indexing, using replication or representative sampling.

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

• FLJH 0.09% a year. Currency hedging usually carries a surcharge; here it costs the same as Franklin's unhedged FLJP and far less than the median Japan fund.
• The hedge is the whole point: it aims to strip out yen-dollar moves so what you own is Japanese share prices, not a bet on the currency.
• Broad and deliberately un-top-heavy: roughly 500 Japanese companies tracked through a capped index, so no single name can swell into an outsized slice.
• Live since 2017 and one of the stronger builds in a crowded Japan peer group of index trackers.

• 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

• FLJH The hedge cuts both ways. When the yen strengthens against the dollar, you give up the tailwind an unhedged Japan fund would capture.
• Thinly traded and small next to the Japan heavyweights, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than headline fee comparisons suggest.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, not monthly or quarterly, so income arrives in lumps.

• 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 FLJH profile⁠

Full JPXN profile⁠