Last month, BofA Global Research hosted its annual Japan conference. Over 500 investors joined, and attendance was up 2% versus the prior year. Japan equities rallied sharply through July, but then a rate hike from the BoJ and a stronger Yen disrupted the upward momentum. Daisuke Takato suggests there was more evidence of positive change at the conference. He reiterates Japan Equity Strategist Masashi Akutsu view that 2025 will be another leg higher in Japan's equity story as inflation helps drive higher wages, efficiencies and corporate transformation. Semiconductors could help Japan equity returns as Mikio Hirakawa believes Japan's semicap test equipment have and will benefit from AI-related demand for GPUs and memory.

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