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Uh, I'm ST Jung. I'm from Hong Kong. Mr. Buffett and Mr. Monger did a very good and successful investment in Japan in the past five or six years. The recent CPI in Japan is currently above 3%. Not far away from its 2% targets. Bank of Japan seems very determined in raising rates while Fed ECB and other central banks are considering to cut them.
Do you think BOJ, Bank of Japan makes sense to proceed the rate hike? Will it planned rate hike deter you from further investing Japanese stock market or even considering to realize your current profits. Thank you very much for arranging this greatest event every year. Finally, I wish you healthy always and keep holding this shareholding.
Thank you. Well, I'm going to extend the same goodwill to Japan that you've just extended to me. I I I let the people of Japan determine their best course of action in terms of economics. It's an incredible story. Uh and uh it's been about six years now as you pointed out. I was just going through a little handbook uh that probably had two or three thousand Japanese companies in it.
U one problem I have is that I can't read that handbook anymore. The the prints too small, but uh here were these five trading companies. They have a special name for them in Japan, but they were selling at ridiculously low prices. And uh so I spent about a year acquiring them and then we got to know the people better and everything that Greg and I saw we like better as we went along.
So we got fairly close to the 10% limit that we we told the companies we would never exceed without their permission. And uh so we did ask them reasonably whether that limit could be relaxed and it's in the process of being relaxed somewhat. Uh I would say that I'll speak for Greg beyond me that I'll in the next 50 years uh and I hope he's running things then uh we we won't give a thought to to selling those.
I mean they that uh uh Japan's record has been extraordinary actually in terms of my guess is that Tim would tell you Tim Cook would tell you that iPhone sales there are about as great as any country outside the United States. American Express would tell you that they sell their product very very well in Japan.
Coca-Cola that we do business with. Another big investment of ours. They do extraordinarily well in Japan. They have a number of habits in uh in a civilization that operates differently than ours. Japan is by far the biggest. Uh they this is the container they've always preferred. uh there's soft drinks and and they have uh they have a whole different sort of distribution system there but we have been treated extremely well by the five companies they they they talk with Greg primarily uh I went over there year or two ago but Greg's more cosmopolitan than I am so he he's a which isn't saying much actually but uh
very middle and but he is I don't how many times do you think you've met with representatives of one company the other yeah when you think of the five there's definitely a couple meetings a year Warren and I think the thing we're building with the five five companies is one it's it's been a very good investment but we are really as Warren touched on we we envision holding the investment for 50 years or or forever.
But I think we also are building relationships to do incremental things with each of those companies. And we really do hope to do big things with them uh globally. They bring different perspectives and different opportunities. And we see and that's the uh that's why we're building that long-term relationship with them.
It's super long-term and and and they have a much they have different customs. They have different approaches to business. That's that's true around the world. And uh we're we we don't have any intention in any way of trying to change what they've done because do because they they do it very successfully and uh and our our our main activity is just to is just to cheer and clap and uh and that I can still do it 94.
Uh so uh we will own those we we will not be selling any stock. I mean that is just it's that will not happen in decades if then. Uh and I my guess is that they will find things cuz they cover the world pretty much. uh the five trading companies. We will find things occasionally that may be very large for any individual company there.
Uh they may in some way be assisted by some some help we bring to the situation. Uh but but that will be an expanding relationship. Uh, it's too bad that Bergkshire has gotten as big as it is because we love that position and I'd like it to be a lot larger than than it is. But even with the five companies being they're very large companies and they're large companies in Japan.
uh and we've got at market I you know in the in the range of $20 billion invested but I'd rather I'd rather have a hundred billion than 20 billion and that's the way I feel about several other investments we have but uh size is an enemy uh of performance at Bergkshire and uh I don't know any good way to solve that problem.
But but uh Charlie always told me that having a few problems was good for me. I never quite understood that, but he if you listen to him moralize, you would understand. And uh and and it's not an impossible problem at all. It uh and the Japan the Japan investment has has just been right up our alley.
you want to add anything on that? No, I think uh you've touched it, but um as you said, it's right up our alley and I I absolutely agree, Warren. I I do believe we'll see some very large opportunities long term. And that and that's just been a great plus of that that relationship. Yeah. Yeah. I would say they they they want to they would like to present us with opportunities.
We would like to receive them. We've got the money. We both get along well very well with each other. And they have different they have some different customs than than we have. Uh they drink the number one Coca-Cola product. They drink over there something called Georgia coffee. Uh so uh I'm I'm I haven't converted them to Cherry Coke and they're not going to convert me to Georgia coffee.
But it's it's a perfect relationship. I just wish we had could get more like it. Uh uh and I never dreamt of that when I picked up that little wasn't so little. Was about that thick, but sometimes two companies to a page and and a couple thousand pages I believe. But it's amazing how much you can find when you just turn turn the page.
We showed a movie last year about turn every page and I would say that turning every page uh is one important ingredient to bring to the investment field. It uh and that very few people do turn every page and the ones who turn every page aren't going to tell you what they're finding. So you you got to do a little of it yourself.
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