The leading candidates to be Japan’s next prime minister have avoided investing in the country’s stock market.
Two of the top candidates, Shinjiro Koizumi and Sanae Takaichi, report owning no shares. The third main candidate, Shigeru Ishiba, owns stocks that his office says he inherited.
The government has been encouraging people to shift some of the roughly ¥1 quadrillion ($7 trillion) held in bank accounts to the stock market through tax-free investment accounts. The inherent volatility of investing was highlighted on Aug. 5, when the 225-issue Nikkei average suffered its biggest rout since 1987, only to bounce back the next day.
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