Japan's economy is normalizing, says Neuberger's Okamura
December 22, 2025 • 4m 4s
Marine (Anchor)
00:00.350
can
the
positive
momentum
continue
joining
us
now
is
kay
akamura
he
is
neuberger
berman
's
portfolio
manager
for
japanese
equities
in
kay
it's
great
to
have
you
on
the
show
given
the
fact
that
the
make
of
the
bank
of
japan
has
been
hiking
can
the
equity
market
continue
to
power
Marine (Anchor)
00:17.310
higher
hi
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
00:19.720
thanks
for
having
me
on
the
show
maureen
so
let
me
let
me
break
that
down
to
a
couple
parts
first
of
all
we
do
think
that
the
market
can
go
higher
and
that's
on
the
back
of
the
fundamentals
and
the
valuations
so
on
the
fundamental
side
we
have
the
japanese
economy
exiting
the
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
00:34.840
last
decades
of
deflation
inflation
is
stabilizing
we're
starting
to
see
structural
gains
in
wage
growth
that's
a
positive
factor
and
then
on
the
valuation
side
as
you
mentioned
the
japanese
equity
market
you
know
gained
around
twenty
twenty
five
percent
or
so
this
year
to
date
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
00:50.590
but
then
you
know
when
you
look
at
the
valuation
it's
about
mid
teens
PE
which
is
a
much
further
discount
compared
to
say
the
S
and
P
or
other
european
equities
so
we
do
think
that
japanese
equities
remains
quite
attractive
on
the
other
hand
what
the
bank
of
japan
did
last
week
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
01:07.430
is
kind
of
reflective
of
this
we
are
the
the
economy
is
normalizing
and
i
think
it's
for
that
reason
that
the
bank
side
to
hike
you
know
interest
rates
by
twenty
five
basis
points
albeit
it's
still
at
zero
point
seven
five
five
percent
which
is
still
very
low
by
international
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
01:21.070
standards
Marine (Anchor)
01:21.910
i
realize
you're
focused
on
the
equity
market
but
the
yen
had
weakened
dramatically
against
the
US
dollar
after
that
rate
hike
and
stabilized
today
and
certainly
you've
had
officials
who
have
come
out
and
basically
said
they're
keeping
an
eye
on
this
and
that
helped
to
stabilize
Marine (Anchor)
01:35.030
things
so
how
closely
are
you
watching
currencies
given
the
ripple
effects
of
that
to
other
asset
classes
including
stocks
yeah
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
01:43.380
look
i
keep
a
very
close
eye
on
currency
markets
just
simply
because
you
know
it
has
a
big
impact
in
terms
of
the
imported
cost
of
inflation
also
you
know
i
just
came
back
from
a
break
from
overseas
and
it
was
pretty
pricey
especially
being
a
paid
in
japanese
debt
but
that
being
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
01:58.380
said
when
we're
investing
in
japanese
equities
in
the
long
term
i
think
it
is
important
that
we
are
invested
in
companies
that
have
battle
hardened
balance
sheets
and
business
models
that
can
weather
these
short
term
volatilities
in
the
yen
so
if
you
take
a
in
our
portfolio
we
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
02:13.470
own
companies
like
toyota
which
is
a
great
company
that
has
localized
production
in
the
end
markets
such
as
the
one
where
you're
at
in
the
US
and
that's
important
because
it
basically
removes
the
cost
implications
between
the
top
line
and
the
cost
base
and
that's
usually
where
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
02:31.110
the
biggest
sort
of
volatility
comes
from
the
currency
mismatch
so
i
think
that's
an
important
factor
to
take
into
consideration
be
invested
in
these
companies
that
have
you
know
gone
through
you
know
various
types
of
cycles
and
currency
volatilities
those
are
the
ones
that
will
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
02:45.990
continue
to
win
over
the
mid
to
long
term
you
know
Marine (Anchor)
02:48.070
it's
interesting
because
we've
seen
fiscal
packages
help
propel
markets
in
other
parts
of
the
world
i
think
about
germany
where
defense
spending
and
infrastructure
are
key
parts
of
those
fiscal
packages
you're
hearing
very
similar
commentary
around
things
like
defense
spending
Marine (Anchor)
03:01.070
from
japanese
prime
minister
is
that
part
of
the
bull
case
for
japan
going
into
twenty
twenty
six
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
03:07.670
yeah
absolutely
you
know
just
like
other
markets
the
defense
is
booming
at
the
moment
shipbuilding
semiconductors
like
you
know
previous
guest
was
saying
i
think
all
of
these
are
very
very
important
themes
and
they're
part
of
the
course
or
strategic
investment
package
that
the
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
03:23.110
government
has
has
come
to
to
the
market
with
especially
since
this
newly
elected
prime
minister
you
know
came
to
the
front
scenes
in
october
of
this
year
what
is
important
is
that
in
the
last
sort
of
several
years
if
we
track
back
we've
been
seeing
japanese
equities
continue
to
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
03:41.110
do
quite
well
and
that
has
to
do
with
the
balance
sheet
reforms
and
the
capital
efficiency
gains
that
that
have
finally
come
through
after
many
many
decades
but
now
it's
even
more
interesting
is
what
you
just
alluded
to
which
is
that
the
government
is
trying
to
come
up
with
a
Kei Okamura (Japanese Equities Portfolio Manager)
03:55.590
growth
story
and
that's
an
actually
important
factor
especially
as
equity
investors
we
need
that
aspect
to
be
more
forward
looking
investors
over
the
mid
to
long
term
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