Best Nikkei 225 ETFs: Low Fees and Alternative Japan Funds

The Nikkei 225 is Japan’s oldest and most widely quoted stock market index, first calculated on September 7, 1950, and retroactively backdated to May 16, 1949. Unlike most major indices, it uses a price-weighted methodology rather than market-cap weighting — a quirk that gives stocks with high nominal share prices an outsized influence on the index, regardless of their actual company size.

The index tracks 225 highly liquid companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, drawn from 36 different industries. Ownership of the index passed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) newspaper in 1970, when the TSE introduced its own TOPIX index. Among the Nikkei 225 constituents, you’ll find names like Toyota Motor, Sony Group, SoftBank, Fast Retailing, Tokyo Electron, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Several Nikkei 225 ETFs are available across different exchanges and currencies:

• iShares Core Nikkei 225 ETF (1329.T) — BlackRock, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in JPY
• NEXT FUNDS Nikkei 225 ETF (1321.T) — Nomura, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in JPY
• iShares Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (CSNKY) — BlackRock, a UCITS-compliant fund accessible to European investors
• Xtrackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF — DWS, another European-listed option; total expense ratios for European Nikkei 225 ETFs range from 0.09% to 0.51% p.a.
• MAXIS Nikkei 225 ETF (NKY) — the only USD-denominated ETF directly tracking the Nikkei 225, trading on NYSE Arca since 2011

For broader Japan exposure beyond the 225-stock universe, alternatives include the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ), which tracks the wider MSCI Japan Index and has been listed on NYSE Arca since 1996, and the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (DXJ), which goes long Japanese equities while hedging yen currency exposure. All trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are denominated in Japanese yen.

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The table below lists Nikkei 225 ETFs and alternative Japan funds with live data on fees, share classes, currency options, and dividend policies.