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Matthews Japan Fund
MJFOX

Snapshot
  • High-conviction growth strategy seeks alpha in Japan
  • Unconstrained all-cap approach seeking Japanese companies positioned to benefit from Asia's growth
  • Invests in companies leveraged to the fast growing consumer demand across Asia, global industry leaders and entrepreneurial companies providing innovative domestic solutions

12/31/1998

Inception Date

6.93%

YTD Return

(as of 01/16/2026)

$25.78

NAV

(as of 01/16/2026)

+0.02

1 Day NAV Change

(as of 01/16/2026)

Objective

Long-term capital appreciation

Strategy

Under normal circumstances, the Matthews Japan Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, which include borrowings for investment purposes, in the common and preferred stocks of companies located in Japan. The Fund seeks to invest in companies capable of sustainable growth based on the fundamental characteristics of those companies, including balance sheet information; number of employees; size and stability of cash flow; management’s depth, adaptability and integrity; product lines; marketing strategies; corporate governance; and financial health.

Risks

Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. In addition, investments in a single-country fund, which is considered a non-diversified fund, may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific country.

These and other risks associated with investing in the Fund can be found in the prospectus.

Fund Facts
Inception Date 12/31/1998
Fund Assets $717.89 million (12/31/2025)
Currency USD
Ticker MJFOX
Cusip 577-130-800
Benchmark MSCI Japan Index
Geographic Focus Japan
Fees & Expenses
Gross Expense Ratio 1.15%

Performance

  • Monthly
  • Quarterly
  • Calendar Year
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As of 12/31/2025
Average Annual Total Returns
Name 1MO 3MO YTD 1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
Matthews Japan Fund - MJFOX
12/31/1998
MJFOX
0.52% 3.35% 22.76% 22.76% 19.01% 3.59% 7.61% 6.52%
MSCI Japan Index
0.56% 3.26% 25.05% 25.05% 17.96% 6.99% 8.01% 4.78%
As of 12/31/2025
Average Annual Total Returns
Name 1MO 3MO YTD 1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
Matthews Japan Fund - MJFOX
12/31/1998
MJFOX
0.52% 3.35% 22.76% 22.76% 19.01% 3.59% 7.61% 6.52%
MSCI Japan Index
0.56% 3.26% 25.05% 25.05% 17.96% 6.99% 8.01% 4.78%
For the years ended December 31st
Name 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Matthews Japan Fund - MJFOX
MJFOX
22.76% 16.38% 17.99% -27.85% -1.92% 29.82% 26.08% -20.18% 33.14% 0.40%
MSCI Japan Index (USD)
25.05% 8.68% 20.77% -16.31% 2.04% 14.91% 20.07% -12.58% 24.39% 2.73%

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.

Assumes reinvestment of all dividends and/or distributions before taxes. All performance quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with market conditions so that when redeemed, shares may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund’s fees and expenses had not been waived. Performance differences between the Institutional class and the Investor class may arise due to differences in fees charged to each class.

Additional performance, attribution, liquidity, value at risk (VaR), security classification and holdings information is available on request for certain time periods.

Growth of a Hypothetical $10,000 Investment Since Inception

(as of 12/31/2025)

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.

The performance data and graph do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on dividends, capital gain distributions or redemption of fund shares.

Ratings

  • OVERALL
  • out of 36 funds
  • 3 YEAR
  • out of 36 funds
  • 5 YEAR
  • out of 32 funds
  • 10 YEAR
  • out of 24 funds

Ratings agency calculation methodology

Portfolio Managers

Shuntaro  Takeuchi photo
Donghoon  Han photo

Portfolio Characteristics

(as of 12/31/2025)
Fund Benchmark
Number of Positions 49 181
Weighted Average Market Cap $70.6 billion $78.0 billion
Active Share 59.8 n.a.
P/E using FY1 estimates 17.6x 16.8x
P/E using FY2 estimates 15.9x 15.7x
Price/Cash Flow 0.0 9.9
Price/Book 2.0 1.8
Return On Equity 12.8 12.8
EPS Growth (3 Yr) % 2.9%

Sources: Factset Research Systems, Inc.

Risk Metrics (3 Yr Return)

(as of 11/30/2025)
-1.34%
Alpha
1.10
Beta
111.89%
Upside Capture
126.52%
Downside Capture
0.90
Sharpe Ratio
-0.08
Information Ratio
5.57%
Tracking Error
84.48

Fund Risk Metrics are reflective of Investor share class.

Sources: Zephyr StyleADVISOR

Top 10 Holdings

(as of 12/31/2025)
Name Sector % Net Assets
Sony Group Corp. Consumer Discretionary 5.7
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. Financials 4.8
Hitachi, Ltd. Industrials 4.7
Tokyo Electron, Ltd. Information Technology 4.2
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. Financials 3.9
Toyota Motor Corp. Consumer Discretionary 3.1
ORIX Corp. Financials 3.0
Marubeni Corp. Industrials 3.0
NEC Corp. Information Technology 2.9
Sumitomo Corp. Industrials 2.7
TOTAL 38.0

Top 10 holdings may combine more than one security from the same issuer and related depositary receipts.

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc.

Portfolio Breakdown (%)

(as of 12/31/2025)
  • Sector Allocation
  • Market Cap Exposure
Sector Fund Benchmark Difference
Industrials 28.5 25.4 3.1
Consumer Discretionary 20.6 17.0 3.6
Financials 17.3 17.0 0.3
Information Technology 14.7 14.0 0.7
Communication Services 4.0 7.6 -3.6
Materials 4.0 3.4 0.6
Real Estate 4.0 2.4 1.6
Health Care 3.6 6.5 -2.9
Consumer Staples 2.9 4.7 -1.8
Utilities 0.0 1.1 -1.1
Energy 0.0 0.9 -0.9
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 0.3 0.0 0.3

Sector data based on MSCI’s revised Global Industry Classification Standards. For more details, visit www.msci.com.

Equity market cap of issuer Fund Benchmark Difference
Mega Cap (over $25B) 65.6 75.5 -9.9
Large Cap ($10B-$25B) 19.6 18.0 1.6
Mid Cap ($3B-$10B) 8.6 6.5 2.1
Small Cap (under $3B) 5.9 0.0 5.9
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 0.3 0.0 0.3

Source: FactSet Research Systems.

Percentage values in data are rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent, so the values may not sum to 100% due to rounding. Percentage values may be derived from different data sources and may not be consistent with other Fund literature.

Distributions

Record Date Ex, Pay and
Reinvest Date
Ordinary
Income
Short Term
Capital Gains
Long Term
Capital Gains
Total Distributions
Per Share
% of NAV Nondividend Distribution (Return of Capital)
12/16/2025 12/17/2025 $0.47182 $0.00000 $0.00000 $0.47182 1.9% N.A.
12/17/2024 12/18/2024 $0.42505 $0.00000 $0.00000 $0.42505 2.0% N.A.
12/13/2022 12/14/2022 $0.00000 $0.00000 $1.07119 $1.07119 6.5% N.A.
12/14/2021 12/15/2021 $0.23596 $0.32236 $2.18705 $2.74537 11.1% N.A.
12/15/2020 12/16/2020 $0.13240 $0.00000 $2.43277 $2.56517 10.5% N.A.

 

There is no guarantee that the Fund will pay or continue to pay distributions. 

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with changing market conditions so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Commentary

Period ended December 31, 2025

Market Environment

  • Japan’s market showed underlying strength supported by an increase in multiples, generally solid earnings and ongoing corporate reforms which continue to incentivize more shareholder-friendly capital allocation, including stock buybacks and dividend increases.
  • In recent months, the market has been impacted by political change and policy uncertainty following the election of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, alongside expectations of an increase in fiscal spending. With interest rates on an upward trajectory under the new administration, financials have performed well.
  • While some areas of the market have exhibited exuberance around artificial intelligence (AI) themes, we avoided stocks driven by price momentum. Instead, the focus remained on companies with strong fundamentals across our three growth categories: linear, cyclical and idiosyncratic.

Contributors and Detractors

  • For the year ended December 31, 2025, the Matthews Japan Fund returned 22.76%, (Investor Class) and 22.86% (Institutional Class) while its benchmark, the MSCI Japan Index, returned 25.05% over the same period.
  • On a sector basis, the top three contributors to relative performance were consumer discretionary, information technology (IT) and industrials due to stock selection. The top three detractors were consumer staples, financials and communication services due to stock selection.
  • The top three contributors to absolute performance included NEC, an IT company, Marubeni Corp., a global trading company, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, a leading financial services firm. The largest detractors included Recruit Holdings, a human resources (HR) company, SBI Shinsei Bank Ltd., a Japanese financials company, and Maruwa, an electronic materials manufacturer.

Outlook

  • Looking ahead, market sentiment is likely to continue to be impacted by domestic politics, including the shape of Prime Minister Takaichi’s spending plans, as well as by the broader macroeconomic factors such as wage increases and upward pressure on interest rates.
  • Japan has meaningful exposure to global industrial and engineering sectors. Early signs of a cyclical recovery will, in our view, support a constructive view on the equity market.
  • Stock-picking opportunities exist on a total return basis across sectors, including technology, but we are attuned to rich valuations in some areas related to AI exuberance. We believe during periods of strong price momentum, maintaining a focus on companies with earnings momentum is important as it provides a more sustainable basis for rerating.

View the Fund's Top 10 holdings as of December 31, 2025. Current and future holdings are subject to change and risk.

Average Annual Total Returns - MJFOX as of 12/31/2025
1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
22.76% 19.01% 3.59% 7.61% 6.52% 12/31/1998

All performance quoted is past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with changing market conditions so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund's fees and expenses had not been waived. For the Fund's most recent month-end performance visit matthewsasia.com

Fees & Expenses
Gross Expense Ratio 1.15%

Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. In addition, investments in a single-country fund, which is considered a non-diversified fund, may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific country.

 

Visit our Glossary of Terms page for definitions and additional information.

Index Definitions

The information contained herein has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of compilation, but no representation or warranty (express or implied) is made as to the accuracy or completeness of any of this information. Neither the funds nor the Investment Advisor accept any liability for losses either direct or consequential caused by the use of this information.

The views and opinions in the commentary were as of the report date, subject to change and may not reflect current views. They are not guarantees of performance or investment results and should not be taken as investment advice. Investment decisions reflect a variety of factors, and the managers reserve the right to change their views about individual stocks, sectors, and the markets at any time. As a result, the views expressed should not be relied upon as a forecast of the Fund's future investment intent. It should not be assumed that any investment will be profitable or will equal the performance of any securities or any sectors mentioned herein. The information does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any securities mentioned.