The "Financial Big Bang" reforms during the latter half of the 1990s substantially transformed the Japanese financial system, but despite this, the level of risky assets that Japanese households have in their portfolio has not increased. One reason for this is the lack of knowledge necessary to invest in risky assets, such as stocks. Therefore, the Japanese government and financial industry have developed collective investment schemes such as investment trusts, which are an effective way to

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... risky assets for retail investors who lack sophisticated investment knowledge. This paper analyzes commodity investment trusts and commodity ETFs as a method for investing in commodities.