This Firm Sees Engagement As The Way Forward In Japan

The 2026 Sohn Hong Kong Conference is coming up on May 20, 2026 at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, bringing together some of Asia’s top managers to present their best ideas. Presented by the Karen Leung Foundation, the event will support cancer research and treatment for women.

Prior to the event, we caught up with Yuki Takenaka, who will be speaking there. Takenaka is the CEO and chief investment officer of Camphora Capital, a Tokyo-based investment manager founded in June 2024. Camphora launched its Master Fund in November 2025. This concentrated, low-turnover fund utilizes a long-biased strategy and focuses on small- and mid-cap equities in Japan, taking a constructive engagement approach.

Background on Yuki Takenaka

Before founding Camphora, Takenaka was an analyst at Hong Kong-based investment manager Janchor Partners, known for its exceptionally deep fundamental research. Prior to Janchor, he worked as an analyst at Misaki Capital, a Tokyo-based engagement fund. Takenaka started his career as a sell-side analyst at JPMorgan in Tokyo, covering the food, toiletries, beverage and tobacco sector.

Born and raised in Tokushima, in Japan’s Shikoku region, Takenaka also spent three years in Bucharest, Romania due to his father’s work. At the time, Bucharest was being transformed into a capitalist society following the Ceausescu regime, which was toppled by a revolution.

“Even as a child, I could sense the economy regaining its vitality under capitalism,” Takenaka told Hedge Fund Alpha. “Growing up in an environment where the gap between rich and poor was far more stark than in Japan, I deeply felt what it meant to have money — and how fortunate I had been.”

Early investing acumen

Takenaka bought his first stock when he was at Kyoto University. He was a member of an investment club and spent every day reading the Shikiho (Japan Company Handbook) and analyzing small- and mid-cap stocks. While Takenaka doesn’t clearly remember the first stock he bought, he thinks it was a property management company with a market cap of less than ¥10 billion.

“At the time, I noticed growing demand for outsourced property management, driven by inheritance and tax-optimization needs, and that’s what led me to invest,” he explained.

Takenaka has wanted to operate his own fund since he was in college. He felt the time was right following his experience in engagement investing at Misaki Capital and in deep fundamental research at Janchor Partners.

“A critical factor was the rapidly improving corporate governance environment in Japan,” Takenaka added. “When I started my buyside career in 2018, I often had to explain basic concepts like cost of capital to company managements. Today, the Tokyo Stock Exchange is publicly pressuring companies trading below 1x book value, and cost-of-capital awareness is now widespread. Large caps like Hitachi, Sony, and Seven & i Holdings have transformed over the past decade.”