Japanese boardrooms are finally giving way to reform, creating one of the world’s most overlooked opportunities for value investors. The legacy of Japan’s 1980s boom and 1989 crash left many corporates traumatised and hoarding liquidity, but decades of balance-sheet conservatism have now produced a landscape rich with potential.

Gifford Combes and ffolkes Davis founded the Nippon Active Value Fund in 2019 to turn that potential into performance. In this interview, they discuss how reform is reshaping corporate culture, why activism is accelerating change, and what it means for long-term investors seeking value in Japan.