As Japan¡¯s population ages and slowly declines, bring in the robots and foreigners.
That is the view of Atsuto Sawakami, whose $2.6 billion eponymous stock fund beat the Topix index in 12 of the past 15 years. With pensioners holding most of the nation¡¯s wealth and swelling in number, his fund will profit by buying shares in developers of assistive limbs and other companies that target elderly consumers, the 68-year-old said.
Policy under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is being shaped by an awareness that the nation¡¯s citizens are the oldest in the world. The government is doing everything from promoting greater female participation in the workforce to taking small steps toward welcoming more overseas workers in a nation where foreign residents make up less than 2 percent of the population. While Sawakami says he is for selective opening of the border, he is betting on the machines.
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