Greg Abel has made his first major portfolio statement as Berkshire Hathaway's chief executive, and it is not the technology giant that grabbed headlines. As of September 18, the conglomerate's six Japanese holdings, five trading houses and one insurer, totaled roughly $47 billion, outpacing the $37 billion parked in Alphabet by about $10 billion.
The numbers are the story
Berkshire opened positions in the five sogo shosha, Mitsubishi, Itochu, Mitsui, Marubeni and Sumitomo, in 2019 under Warren Buffett. Abel added Tokio Marine in March 2026 and has been increasing the trading-house stakes since taking over on January 1. The portfolio overall stands at roughly $360 billion, and Abel culled 16 names in the first quarter. The Japan allocation now represents the single largest country bet outside the United States.
Valuation is the stated rationale
The source argument is straightforward: the S&P 500 entered 2026 at its second-highest Shiller price-to-earnings ratio on record, per Barchart data from July, while the Japanese conglomerates trade at lower multiples. Abel has shown more appetite for technology than his predecessor, Alphabet was a first-quarter addition, but the source frames the Japan trade as a value play consistent with Buffett's discipline. Whether the discount persists if the yen strengthens or the trading houses' commodity exposure turns is the unanswered question.
Governance and capital return
The source also cites Japanese governance as a factor, noting that executives at the largest companies receive less compensation than their U.S. counterparts. The sogo shosha and Tokio Marine return capital through dividends and buybacks, a pattern Buffett has long favored. Abel has not disclosed a target allocation, a break fee or any structural condition attached to the buildup; the stakes have simply grown.
What to watch
The next 13F filing will show whether Abel continued adding in the third quarter or whether the September 18 snapshot marks a pause. The Alphabet position, built in a single quarter, could still overtake Japan if the tech rally resumes. For now, the successor's largest wager is on a group of mid-century trading houses that most U.S. investors still struggle to pronounce.