On last week’s Behind the Markets podcast, Jeremy Schwartz spoke with Jesper Koll, Senior Advisor to WisdomTree, about the current state of Japanese markets and politics. The conversation focused on the recent news surrounding Warren Buffett’s $6 billion investment in five Japanese stocks, and the motives behind it.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway recently purchased 5% stakes in five Japanese trading firms, known as SogoShosha. Jeremy Schwartz reviews some broader portfolio applications of Buffett’s “Buy Japan” strategy, and why investors may want to follow his lead.

Last week, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe decided to step down for personal health reasons. His record-breaking long and stable grip on Japanese power has set a very high bar for his successor. Jesper Koll explains why Abe will be a hard act to follow on both the domestic and global stages.

In coming months, Japanese politics are poised to become more exciting. With little more than a year left before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidency ends in September 2021, slowly but surely the post-Abe succession race will intensify. Jesper Koll discusses.

On a special “Behind the Markets” podcast, Jeff Weniger and Jeremy Schwartz spoke with Jesper Koll, Senior Advisor to WisdomTree. The conversation focused on how Japan managed to outperform other international markets in Europe by a fairly wide margin during the global economic shutdown.

On Monday evening, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a commitment to a fiscal stimulus package worth ¥108 trillion, which is approximately 20% of Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP). In our view, this confirms Abe’s total commitment to preventing the inevitable recession from becoming a depression.