The Assets of Japan’s Wealthiest Jump to Record $3 Trillion #JapanFinance

(Bloomberg) — The value of assets held by Japan’s wealthy and uber wealthy has risen to a record ¥469 trillion ($3.1 trillion), while assets held by the majority of people in the country have grown at a much slower pace, according to Nomura Research Institute Ltd.

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Between 2011 and 2023, the wealth of Japan’s rich and super rich more than doubled and tripled, respectively, while assets held by the masses, which account for roughly 80% of Japan’s households, only grew 42.2%, according to NRI’s report released Thursday.

That growing disparity in wealth largely reflected gains by stocks, which generally benefit higher-net-worth households. In 2023, the weak yen also likely pushed up the value of foreign assets held by rich Japanese households, the report noted.

From the end of 2011 until the end of 2023, Japan’s benchmark Topix index more than tripled — helped by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s namesake economic policies that began in 2012.

While subsequent leaders including Fumio Kishida have called for support for the middle class and a better distribution of the fruits of growth, data show that the policies of Japan’s last decade or so have served the rich better than the vast majority of the country’s households. Real wages only grew in three of the 13 years through 2023. Meanwhile, in 2023 the top 3% of Japan’s richest households held 26% of the country’s household net assets.

Defining ‘rich’ households as those possessing between ¥100 million to ¥500 million in net assets, and ‘super rich’ as those owning more ¥500 million, NRI also noted that in recent years there was a significant portion of households that had unexpectedly become wealthy.

Their assets grew through systems such as employee share ownership plans and the government’s tax-free investment program that began in 2014. The report also noted that since 2023, various economic indicators show further growth, suggesting that there could be further impact on the net assets of the wealthy.

(Updates with chart, additional background.)

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