Steven Towns

Outlook for Japanese Stocks: A Rising Sun

Not quite feeling your optimism, and I still think the broader and deeper negatives far outweigh any incremental positives such as 7 Eleven opening up in Indonesia. And you should really take note that your figures for the DoCoMo - Oakmark deal and the size of Topix-1 are way off the mark: the former was a deal for Y31B or about $310M, not Y31T/$31B! The Topix-1 is definitely not $170B! At Y170T, it's more like $1.7T!

Japanese Equities: Land of the Relatively Rising Sun

Don, good article, and no doubt that EWJ has size and liquidity. Ironically, as I published recently (available on SA by searching ticker EWJ or my website at steventowns.com for those interested), its size and liquidity are exactly what did it in, or more precisely, what did in the Japanese equity market. The massive deleveraging last autumn handily took the N225 to a 26-year low. And relative yen strength has basically been the coup de grace for Japanese equities. I am not too excited about investment funds that are in the red but outperforming relatively. And in this case, any significant recovery for EWJ would necessitate a weaker yen, which would impact the fund's returns. I would be more interested in cherry picking some of EWJ holdings for accumulation and dividend reinvesting.

Japanese Stocks: Timely Buybacks, Stock Retiring

Hi Ankit,

No problem at all. Companies can buy back shares, which then become part of Treasury Stock and could be reissued; but when Treasury shares are retired (or canceled), it permanently eliminates those shares. In either case, existing shareholders benefit from having a greater share of any profits, although the company's cash level will be lower. The debate is about whether a share buy back is done when shares are undervalued vs. overvalued and whether shares will be reissued or not. The best case for shareholders is obviously when "undervalued" shares are bought and retired.

Hope that helps.

Can the BlackBerry Crack Japan?

Thank you Gen!!! I said as much back in June (see "Related links" above) when news of this first broke in mainstream media. It really makes you wonder. But then again, the interest level seems really high among some expats (the article mentions i-bankers) and of course those fresh of the plane at Narita.

By the way, I tried contacting DoCoMo offices in California to ask about a service they offer that allows Japanese capabilities on BlackBerries in the U.S. (see DoCoMo's Namikiteru website) but never received a reply. Interesting, and oddly enough, the language capabilities in the U.S. seem to be better than what is being offered in Japan (read only vs. read & write). So, it really seems like this targeted to expats with limited use for Japanese language and again, those visiting and on business.

DoCoMo Still Reigns King in Japan, But Faces Stiff Competition (DCM, VOD)

Thanks for your comment Andrew. I agree that the VOD chart may be a little deceptive and going forward will make a note in case there's any confusion (hopefully there isn't).

NTT DoCoMo's Slew of News (DCM)

There were three more pieces of DoCoMo news out this week including the share repurchase update announced today. On Thursday DoCoMo announced it achieved the world's first 2.5Gbps packet transmission in a 4G field experiment. And on Wednesday DCM said it was postponing the launch date for its NM850iG Handset (the one apparently made by Nokia) because it was still confirming its quality.

Tokyo Stock Exchange Suffers 3rd Worst Day This Year, ADRs to Watch (SANYY, TMIC) & Many Decliners

More details on the Mizuho error here by Bloomberg. Compliance concerns to come after the latest problem with the TSE?

After Tuesday Morning System Glitch, Tokyo Stock Exchange Finishes Afternoon Up Big (TDK, MTU, KUB, SNE, CAJ, NIPNY, DCM)

See this link to a Yomiuri Shimbun article providing further coverage of the snafu yesterday morning on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that delayed the start of trading until the afternoon.