As of December 2024, Japan held United States treasury securities totaling about 1.06 trillion U.S. dollars. Foreign holders of United States treasury debt According to the Federal Reserve and U.S. Department of the Treasury, foreign countries held a total of 8.5 trillion U.S. dollars in U.S. treasury securities as of December 2024. Of the total held by foreign countries, Japan and Mainland China held the greatest portions, with China holding 759 billion U.S. dollars in U.S. securities. The U.S. public debt In 2023, the United States had a total public national debt of 33.2 trillion U.S. dollars, an amount that has been rising steadily, particularly since 2008. In 2023, the total interest expense on debt held by the public of the United States reached 678 billion U.S. dollars, while 197 billion U.S. dollars in interest expense were intra governmental debt holdings. Total outlays of the U.S. government were 6.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. By 2029, spending is projected to reach 8.3 trillion U.S. dollars.

At the end of the fiscal year 2023, financial institutions, including insurance companies, investment trusts, and pension trusts, were the leading type of domestic investors in stocks in Japan, with stock holdings of around 291.1 trillion Japanese yen. Stock holdings of non-Japanese corporations and individuals amounted to 320.5 trillion yen. Tokyo Stock Exchange With a market capitalization of over 950 trillion Japanese yen and around 3.9 thousand constituents, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, operated by the Japan Exchange Group, is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the world. In parallel to its reorganization in April 2022, a series of reforms were introduced to improve corporate governance of listed companies and make Japanese stocks more attractive to investors. Driven by global investors, the Nikkei 225 stock market index, Japan’s benchmark index, surpassed a 34 year-old record-high in February 2024. Private investors Stock holdings of individuals amounted to around 170.5 trillion yen in fiscal 2023. Japanese households hold a comparably large share of assets in cash and deposits. According to estimates, around 12 percent of the population were stock owners and equity and investment trusts accounted for around 19 percent of the financial assets of households. To boost private investment in stocks and bonds, an amended version of Japan’s tax-exempt investment scheme, Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA), was launched in January 2024.