The Best Japan Large-Cap Equity ETFs

Japanese stocks have enjoyed a strong 2026, with the market delivering some of the best returns among major developed economies. For investors looking to tap into that momentum, these highly rated ETFs offer broad exposure to Japan’s biggest companies.

What Are Japan Large-Cap Equity Funds?

Japan large-cap blend equity funds are broadly representative of the Japanese equity market in terms of company size, growth characteristics, and valuation. Large-cap equities are defined as those within the top 70% of the Japanese equity market by market capitalization. The blend style is assigned to funds for which neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. These funds invest at least 75% of their total assets in equities and allocate at least 75% of their equity holdings to Japanese companies.

The chart below shows returns in GBP since the start of the year.

The 9 Best Japan Large-Cap Equity ETFs to Buy in 2026

To find the best Japan large-cap blend equity ETFs to buy, we screened for those earning a

of Bronze, Silver, or Gold with 100% analyst coverage. All the ETFs on the list fall into the Japan large-cap blend equity and have at least £1 billion in assets. All data is as of Sept. 15.

1. Xtrackers MSCI Japan UCITS ETF XMJD
2. UBS Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF JPNJPA
3. iShares Core MSCI Japan IMI UCITS ETF IJPA
4. Xtrackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF XNJP
5. Amundi Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF LCJP
6. iShares MSCI Japan Screened UCITS ETF SAJP
7. Vanguard FTSE Japan UCITS ETF VDJP
8. iShares MSCI Japan CTB Enhanced ESG UCITS ETF EEJD
9. iShares VII - iShares MSCI Japan UCITS ETF USD (Acc) CJPU

Morningstar expects the highly rated Japan large-cap blend equity funds on this list to outperform their peers over a full market cycle. But even though all the funds on our list fall into the same category, they may practice different strategies, and therefore behave differently from each other. Investors need to do some homework to understand exactly what a particular fund invests in before buying.

Here’s a quick look at each of the best Japan large-cap blend equity ETFs. Be sure to review a fund’s complete report for more details.

Xtrackers MSCI Japan UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £6.5 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Ongoing Charge: 0.12%

The £6.5 billion fund has gained 26.73% over the past year, while the average fund in its category is up 25.52%. The Xtrackers fund, which launched in January 2007, has climbed 16.17% over the past three years and gained 8.99% over the past five years.

Xtrackers MSCI Japan ETF represents a solid option for investors looking to gain access to the Japanese large-cap equity market. Our conviction is grounded in the fund’s low management fee and representative beta exposure offered in a market where passive investments have performed well over long periods.

The market-cap-weighted MSCI Japan Index tracks the performance of around 180 large- and mid-cap Japanese companies, which approximate 85% of the total market value.

The fund slashed its ongoing charge to 0.12% from 0.20% in late 2023; the fund now maintains a considerable cost advantage compared with both passive and active peers.

A low fee has contributed to a solid if unspectacular performance, with the fund outperforming its surviving Morningstar Category peers on a risk-adjusted basis during the trailing three-, five-, and 10-year periods.

We expect the fee cut to allow the fund to retain its performance edge over peers over long periods.

Investors in all foreign markets should be aware of the potential impact that currency movements can have on returns. For example, a euro investor in the Japanese equity markets is exposed to both the returns on the underlying market and the fluctuations in the euro/yen exchange rate. Over long periods, the impact of exchange-rate fluctuations is likely to be a wash, consistent with the historical pattern.

The scale and resources of the passive portfolio management operation at DWS are on par with other competitors of similar scale. During the trailing five-year period, the fund has tracked its benchmark closely. Given the team’s extensive indexing experience, this is not surprising, and we should expect tracking to remain tight.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Xtrackers MSCI Japan UCITS ETF.

UBS Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £6.2 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Ongoing Charge: 0.12%

The £6.2 billion fund has climbed 25.56% over the past year, performing roughly in line with the average fund in its category, which rose 25.52%. The UBS fund, which launched in October 2001, has climbed 15.49% over the past three years and gained 8.86% over the past five years.

In January 2024, the fund reduced its ongoing charge of 0.12%, meaning the fund maintains a considerable cost advantage compared with active and passive peers. This low fee is not captured in longer-term past performance but can be expected to boost relative performance going forward.

The fund outperformed its surviving category peers on a risk-adjusted basis during the trailing three-, five-, and 10-year periods. The annual tracking difference (fund return less index return) for the fund over the trailing three-year period has hovered around its ongoing charge.

UBS exchange-traded funds boast a solid portfolio-management team with well-established leadership. The stability of the portfolio-management team is a key strength, and we believe UBS ETFs benefit from the expertise of UBS Asset Management, where passive investment and indexing are a core offering.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the UBS Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF.

iShares Core MSCI Japan IMI UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £6.6 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Ongoing Charge: 0.12%

Over the past year, the iShares fund rose 25.16%, while the average fund in its category rose 25.52%. The fund, which launched in September 2009, has climbed 15.56% over the past three years and gained 8.71% over the past five years.

This iShares Core MSCI Japan IMI ETF represents a top option for investors looking to gain access to the Japanese large-cap equity market. Our conviction is grounded in the exchange-traded fund’s low management fee and representative beta exposure offered in a market where passive investments have proved difficult to beat over long periods. The expansive market coverage offered by the MSCI Japan Investable Market Net Return Index means that this ETF provides one of the most representative cap-weighted exposures to Japanese large-cap equities.

Covering around 950 Japanese companies, including large, mid-, and small caps, the index represents around 99% of the free-float-adjusted market cap. With an ongoing charge of just 0.18%, the fund is one of the cheapest in its Morningstar Category.

The yawning fee gap between this fund and the median category peer has proved a formidable hurdle for active managers. This low fee has contributed to strong performance, with the fund comfortably appearing in the top half when ranking surviving category peers on a risk-adjusted basis over the trailing three, five, and 10 years.

IShares has a seasoned passive management team befitting the dominant ETF provider in Europe. The well-resourced team has experienced low turnover and can leverage market-leading technology while managing funds. The fund has tracked its benchmark closely over recent years. Given the team’s extensive indexing experience, this is not surprising, and we should expect tracking to remain tight.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares Core MSCI Japan IMI UCITS ETF.

Xtrackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £2.3 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Bronze
• Ongoing Charge: 0.09%

Over the past year, the Xtrackers fund rose 38.11%, while the average fund in its category rose 25.52%. The fund, which launched in January 2013, has climbed 20.63% over the past three years and gained 10.32% over the past five years.

The Nikkei 225 is an index comprising 225 leading stocks selected from the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market, providing a wide lens on the Japanese economy. Stocks are selected based on liquidity and sectoral representation, with rigorous criteria including trading value and price fluctuation over a five-year period. The index undergoes semiannual periodic review, ensuring the market liquidity and industry balances’ long-term continuity and reflecting changes in the industrial structure. Moreover, the weight of each stock is capped at 10% during the regular rebalancing to mitigate the risk of any individual stock having excessive weight.

The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index, which means it diverges significantly from a cap-weighted construction. Instead of weighting companies by their size (market capitalization), it weights them according to their nominal share prices. As a result, higher-priced stocks exert a disproportionate influence on the index. In addition, as mid- and small-cap stocks tend to have lower nominal share prices than large-cap stocks, this tilts the index with a large-cap bias. The price-weighted structure also tends to reduce trading efficiency and may lead to higher turnover compared with a market-cap weighted benchmark. As of October 2025, the index is particularly heavy in technology, with large allocations to industrials and consumer cyclicals. This results in a growth style tilt compared with other indexes tracking the Japanese stock market.

However, comprised mainly of large-cap companies, the Nikkei 225 includes most of Japan’s leading companies and accounts for about 80% of the total market capitalization of the Topix, as of October 2025. Despite some criticism of its price-weighting method as archaic, ignoring market capitalization and company fundamentals, the index is one of the most quoted benchmarks to measure the Japanese market performance.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Xtrackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF.

Amundi Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £5.2 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Ongoing Charge: 0.12%

Morningstar assigns an Above Average rating to the Amundi Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF management team and an Average rating to its parent company Amundi. The management team has an average of more than six years with the fund while Christophe Neves, the longest-tenured member of the team, has been with the fund for close to nine years.

Over the past year, the Amundi fund rose 25.57%, while the average fund in its category rose 25.52%. The fund, which launched in February 2018, has climbed 15.51% over the past three years and gained 8.88% over the past five years.

At the time of writing, industrials, consumer cyclicals, and financials stocks formed the largest sector allocations. On a stock level, the index is well diversified, with no constituents representing more than 5% of the index.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Amundi Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF.

iShares MSCI Japan Screened UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £2 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Ongoing Charge: 0.15%

The fund’s management earns an Above Average rating from Morningstar. Parent company iShares earns a rating of Above Average.

Over the past year, the iShares fund rose 26.39%, while the average fund in its category rose 25.52%. The fund, which launched in October 2018, has climbed 15.33% over the past three years and gained 8.55% over the past five years.

This iShares MSCI Japan Screened ETF’s ultralow fee and broad, representative, market-capitalization-weighted exposure make it a compelling option for investors seeking Japanese large-cap equity exposure.

The light-touch environmental, social, and governance screen applied allows the fund to retain the key characteristics of an unscreened MSCI Japan Index tracker—an approach we favor.

In 2025, the fund removed “ESG” from its name to ensure alignment with updated ESMA guidelines on sustainable investing.

Starting from the MSCI Japan Index, the MSCI Japan Screened Index excludes companies with involvement in controversial civilian and nuclear weapons, tobacco, thermal coal and oil sands extraction, as well as those deemed noncompliant with the United Nations Global Compact principles.

It is worth emphasizing that this methodology amounts to a relatively modest sustainability filter; investors seeking a more pronounced sustainable footprint should look elsewhere. At the time of writing, the fund excludes 20 of the 182 stocks in the parent index. These exclusions affect some larger constituents—notably Seven & i Holdings, owner of the 7-Eleven retail chain, and Japan Tobacco—both of which are among the larger holdings in the parent MSCI Japan Index.

Despite these exclusions, tracking error relative to the parent index has been minimal since launch, and both geographic and sector exposures have closely mirrored those of the benchmark.

With an ongoing charge of 0.15%, the fund is among the cheapest offerings in the Japan large-cap equity Morningstar Category. While this low fee provides a reliable performance tailwind versus category peers, it has not been sufficient to offset the (albeit minor) sustainability-driven positioning in recent years. The fund has therefore ranked in the third quartile on a risk-adjusted basis over the trailing three- and five-year periods.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares MSCI Japan Screened UCITS ETF.

Vanguard FTSE Japan UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £3.9 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Gold
• Ongoing Charge: 0.1%

Over the past year, the Vanguard fund rose 24.35%, while the average fund in its category rose 25.52%. The fund, which launched in May 2013, has climbed 15.19% over the past three years and gained 8.73% over the past five years.

With around 500 constituents, including a number of mid-caps and small caps, the FTSE Japan Index stands as a better proposition than the more popular but narrower MSCI Japan Index. Sporting an ongoing charge of 0.15%, the fund maintains a considerable cost advantage when compared with active peers.

This low fee has contributed toward a solid performance, with the fund outperforming surviving Morningstar Category peers on a risk-adjusted basis during the trailing three-, five-, and 10-year periods.

Being mutually owned by its funds’ shareholders, Vanguard’s fund management team is peppered with industry (and company) veterans and operates with a high degree of competence.

The fund has lagged its benchmark by an amount approximating its ongoing charge. Given the team’s extensive indexing experience, this is not surprising, and we should expect tracking to remain tight.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Vanguard FTSE Japan UCITS ETF.

iShares MSCI Japan CTB Enhanced ESG UCITS ETF

• Fund Size
  : £1.9 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Ongoing Charge: 0.15%

The fund’s management earns an Above Average rating from Morningstar. Parent company iShares earns a rating of Above Average.

The £1.9 billion fund has gained 25.64% over the past year, while the average fund in its category is up 25.52%. The iShares fund, which launched in March 2019, has climbed 14.77% over the past three years and gained 8.01% over the past five years.

This iShares MSCI Japan ESG Enhanced UCITS ETF’s low fee and broad and representative market-cap-weighted exposure make it a strong option for investors in Japanese large-cap equities.

The optimizer approach used to weight holdings is designed to ensure that the fund meets the minimum specifications of the EU Climate Transition Benchmark, while retaining the core benefits of an unscreened MSCI Japan Index tracker, a strategy we favor.

Starting from its MSCI Japan Index parent, the MSCI Japan ESG Enhanced Climate Transition Benchmark Index (renamed in November 2025) excludes a small number of companies involved in the most severe business controversies.

At the time of writing, only eight stocks have been excluded. These include rubber manufacturer Toyoda Gosei, which has been involved in antitrust violations. An optimizer is then used to reweight holdings to maximize exposure to environmental, social, and governance factors while reducing greenhouse gas intensity.

The optimization process seeks to deliver an immediate 30% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity relative to the parent index, while also targeting a 7% year-on-year reduction. This approach is well-suited to investors looking to improve sustainability metrics without taking significant active risk relative to the market-capitalization-weighted MSCI Japan Index.

Back-tested data shows that the tracking error against that index has been low (0.99%). The rebalances to meet the above constraints have also seen the strategy incur 5 times the turnover of the parent index, which will translate into higher trading costs for those funds tracking the index.

The reliance on an optimizer to decide stock weightings at rebalance does mean the strategy has a “black box” element, meaning it would be difficult for an investor to predict the fund’s weightings at the next rebalance. The fact that this fund excludes only a handful of stocks may not suit all ESG investors; those seeking a heavier ESG footprint should look elsewhere.

With an ongoing charge of 0.15%, this fund is one of the cheapest funds in the Japan large-cap Morningstar Category.

This fund’s ESG bets have not paid off over recent years, as it has slightly lagged its average category peer on a risk-adjusted basis over three and five years.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares MSCI Japan CTB Enhanced ESG UCITS ETF.

iShares VII - iShares MSCI Japan UCITS ETF USD (Acc)

• Fund Size
  : £1.3 billion
• Morningstar Medalist Rating
  : Silver
• Ongoing Charge: 0.12%

The £1.3 billion fund has gained 25.89% over the past year, while the average fund in its category is up 25.52%. The iShares fund, which launched in January 2010, has climbed 15.51% over the past three years and gained 8.74% over the past five years.

With an ongoing charge of 0.12%, the fund is among the cheapest passive options and maintains a considerable cost advantage compared with active peers. It is worth noting that this fund charged an offensively high fee of 0.59% until 2023, which is reflected in historical performance.

The relatively high fee has dragged on risk-adjusted returns, which have marginally underperformed the average fund in the Japan large-cap equity category over the trailing 10 years.

The annual tracking difference (fund return less index return) has hovered around the ongoing charge over the past three years. This suggests that the fund has tracked its benchmark tightly (gross of fees). Net of fees, however, the fund has unsurprisingly been one of the worst-performing MSCI Japan Index trackers.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares VII - iShares MSCI Japan UCITS ETF USD (Acc).