Japan is weathering an economic hurricane. Japanese government bonds are suffering a historic sell-off and the yen is sliding fast as investors panic over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's fiscal stimulus and proposed tax cuts. In the last 10 days, yields on the 40-year Japanese government bonds have eclipsed 4%, a figure not seen for long-dated JGB securities in three decades. For policymakers in Tokyo, a crisis is brewing.

But for Berkshire Hathaway, the chaos has been good for business. The Omaha, NE-based conglomerate has big equity stakes in Japan’s five large trading houses, known as the sogo shosha (or “general trading companies”): Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Marubeni and Sumitomo. Shares in those and other Japanese corporations are on a tear as Japan’s central bank raises rates to combat inflation after years of deflation. Over the past three months, Marubeni has jumped more than 30%, while Sumitomo is up over 40%. Amid the past week’s volatility, all five stocks gained between 3% and 11%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index is down about 3% over the last five trading days, butup 33% in the last six months, compared to the S&P 500 index’s 8% return.

Berkshire first invested in the five trading companies in July 2019, spending $6.5 billion in total to acquire 5% stakes in each firm. Between 2023 and last year, it spent another........

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