FLJH vs NBJP

FLJHAFranklin FTSE Japan Hedged ETF

NBJPCNeuberger Berman Japan Equity 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.

NBJP Most Japan ETFs just buy the whole market. NBJP hires stock pickers instead: a concentrated portfolio of about 60 Japanese companies screened for quality and durable growth. Active conviction, at an active price.

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.

NBJP The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

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.

• NBJP Genuinely active, not an index in disguise: roughly 60 Japanese names chosen by Neuberger Berman's research team, with at least 80% of assets in companies tied economically to Japan.aaii.com
• Stays in its lane. A dedicated single-country Japan equity mandate, with no drift into broader Asia or global developed markets.
• Concentration with intent: at about 60 holdings, individual picks actually move the portfolio, rather than getting diluted inside a several-hundred-stock market cap index.

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.

• NBJP Cost is the trade-off: a 1.92% stated expense ratio against a roughly 0.50% cohort median, with index peers like FLJP at 0.09%. Fee caps can lower the net figure, so read the current prospectus.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so spreads can run wider than the giant index Japan funds like BBJP and EWJ.
• Young fund. It opened in 2024, so there is not yet a full market cycle to judge the stock picking against cheap index alternatives.

Full FLJH profile⁠

Full NBJP profile⁠