UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM N-Q

 

QUARTERLY SCHEDULE OF PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS OF REGISTERED
MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY

 

Investment Company Act file number

811-06142

 

 

THE JAPAN EQUITY FUND, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

 

c/o Daiwa Securities Trust Company
One Evertrust Plaza
Jersey City, New Jersey

 

07302

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

(Zip code)

 

John J. O’Keefe
The Japan Equity Fund, Inc.
c/o Daiwa Securities Trust Company
One Evertrust Plaza
Jersey City, New Jersey  07302

(Name and address of agent for service)

 

Registrant's telephone number, including area code:

(201) 915-3054

 

 

Date of fiscal year end:

October 31

 

 

 

 

Date of reporting period:

July 31, 2006

 

 



 

Item 1. Schedule of Investments. – The schedule of investments for the three-month period ended July 31, 2006 is filed herewith.

 



 

The Japan Equity Fund, Inc.

Portfolio of Investments

July 31, 2006 (unaudited)

 

Shares

 

 

 

 

 

Value

 

COMMON STOCKS—97.30%

 

 

 

 

 

Banks—14.56%

 

 

 

 

 

422

 

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.

 

 

 

5,974,307

 

540

 

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.

 

 

 

4,544,438

 

60

 

Sapporo Hokuyo Holdings, Inc.

 

 

 

702,613

 

40,000

 

The Bank of Fukuoka, Ltd.

 

 

 

298,523

 

180,000

 

The Bank of Yokohama, Ltd.

 

 

 

1,445,600

 

65,000

 

The Chiba Bank, Ltd.

 

 

 

637,333

 

15,000

 

The Gunma Bank, Ltd.

 

 

 

116,665

 

17,000

 

The Musashino Bank, Ltd.

 

 

 

950,800

 

300,000

 

The Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

3,190,597

 

15,000

 

The Tochigi Bank, Ltd.

 

 

 

103,688

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17,964,564

 

Chemicals—4.39%

 

 

 

 

 

29,000

 

Nitto Denko Corp.

 

 

 

2,111,072

 

57,000

 

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

3,307,524

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5,418,596

 

Communication—3.51%

 

 

 

 

 

660

 

NTT Corp.

 

 

 

3,454,863

 

600

 

NTT DoCoMo, Inc.

 

 

 

875,644

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4,330,507

 

Construction—1.76%

 

 

 

 

 

90,000

 

Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,469,195

 

15,000

 

Kinden Corp.

 

 

 

116,272

 

60,000

 

Maeda Corp.

 

 

 

266,888

 

60,000

 

Shimizu Corp.

 

 

 

320,895

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2,173,250

 

Electric Appliances—14.31%

 

 

 

 

 

55,000

 

Canon Inc.

 

 

 

2,648,344

 

10,000

 

Fanuc Ltd.

 

 

 

835,445

 

10,000

 

Hirose Electric Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,291,619

 

4,400

 

Keyence Corp.

 

 

 

1,006,275

 

176,000

 

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

3,668,269

 

23,000

 

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,523,552

 

25,000

 

Neomax Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

468,627

 

130,000

 

Sharp Corp.

 

 

 

2,200,559

 

82,000

 

Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

2,443,590

 

20,000

 

TDK Corp.

 

 

 

1,566,023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17,652,303

 

Electric Power & Gas—3.09%

 

 

 

 

 

72,000

 

Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc.

 

 

 

1,683,125

 

36,000

 

Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.

 

 

 

758,193

 

51,000

 

Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc.

 

 

 

1,372,717

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,814,035

 

Insurance—3.80%

 

 

 

 

 

190,000

 

Aioi Insurance Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,482,741

 

65

 

Millea Holdings Inc.

 

 

 

1,261,033

 

100,000

 

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,179,761

 

120,000

 

Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

767,631

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4,691,166

 

 

1



 

Iron & Steel—1.56%

 

 

 

 

 

17,000

 

JFE Holdings, Inc.

 

 

 

680,416

 

320,000

 

Nippon Steel Corp.

 

 

 

1,247,225

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,927,641

 

Land Transportation—3.10%

 

 

 

 

 

430

 

East Japan Railway Co.

 

 

 

3,205,366

 

33,000

 

Fukuyama Transporting Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

118,815

 

97,000

 

Nippon Express Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

494,197

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,818,378

 

Machinery—6.89%

 

 

 

 

 

85,000

 

Komatsu Ltd.

 

 

 

1,712,182

 

37,000

 

Makita Corp.

 

 

 

1,215,765

 

52,000

 

Miura Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,179,236

 

200,000

 

NSK Ltd.

 

 

 

1,536,310

 

76,000

 

OSG Corp.

 

 

 

1,322,346

 

12,000

 

SMC Corp.

 

 

 

1,538,408

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8,504,247

 

Marine Transportation—0.50%

 

 

 

 

 

96,000

 

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha

 

 

 

619,138

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metal Products—1.04%

 

 

 

 

 

120,000

 

NHK Spring Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,282,531

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Ferrous Metals—1.81%

 

 

 

 

 

170,000

 

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.

 

 

 

2,232,893

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oil & Coal Products—0.65%

 

 

 

 

 

15,000

 

Nippon Oil Corp.

 

 

 

117,714

 

55,000

 

Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K.

 

 

 

688,762

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

806,476

 

Other Financing Business—2.47%

 

 

 

 

 

75,500

 

Hitachi Capital Corp.

 

 

 

1,291,873

 

6,700

 

Orix Corp.

 

 

 

1,759,460

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,051,333

 

Other Products—1.23%

 

 

 

 

 

5,000

 

Nintendo Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

935,506

 

50,000

 

Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

576,335

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,511,841

 

Pharmaceutical—4.77%

 

 

 

 

 

28,000

 

Astellas Pharma Inc.

 

 

 

1,115,791

 

33,300

 

Eisai Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,539,430

 

50,000

 

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

3,233,418

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5,888,639

 

Precision Instruments—2.50%

 

 

 

 

 

55,000

 

Hoya Corp.

 

 

 

1,927,379

 

32,000

 

Terumo Corp.

 

 

 

1,157,738

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,085,117

 

Pulp & Paper—0.97%

 

 

 

 

 

300

 

Nippon Paper Group Inc.

 

 

 

1,198,112

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real Estate—2.29%

 

 

 

 

 

60,000

 

Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,276,763

 

55,000

 

Park24 Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,542,865

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2,819,628

 

Retail Trade—3.59%

 

 

 

 

 

10,000

 

Shimamura Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,023,333

 

60,000

 

Sundrug Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,402,604

 

18,900

 

Xebio Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

602,858

 

14,300

 

Yamada Denki Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,393,385

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4,422,180

 

 

2



 

Rubber Products—1.55%

 

 

 

 

 

105,000

 

Bridgestone Corp.

 

 

 

1,913,178

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Securities—1.88%

 

 

 

 

 

130,000

 

Nomura Holdings Inc.

 

 

 

2,311,894

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Services—1.20%

 

 

 

 

 

11,000

 

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.

 

 

 

1,476,536

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Textile & Apparel—2.02%

 

 

 

 

 

22,000

 

Gunze Ltd.

 

 

 

123,045

 

420,000

 

Teijin Ltd.

 

 

 

2,371,057

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2,494,102

 

Transportation Equipment—9.63%

 

 

 

 

 

42,000

 

Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

1,222,232

 

38,000

 

Denso Corp.

 

 

 

1,305,077

 

86,000

 

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

2,840,863

 

80

 

Tachi-S Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

687

 

123,000

 

Toyota Motor Corp.

 

 

 

6,513,851

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11,882,710

 

Wholesale Trade—2.23%

 

 

 

 

 

12,000

 

Autobacs Seven Co., Ltd.

 

 

 

530,630

 

150,000

 

Marubeni Corp.

 

 

 

798,305

 

100,000

 

Sumitomo Corp.

 

 

 

1,419,208

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2,748,143

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Common Stocks (Cost—$94,661,748)

 

 

 

120,039,138

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Principal
Amount
(000)

 

 

 

 

 

Value

 

SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS—0.04%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. DOLLAR TIME DEPOSIT—0.04%

 

 

 

 

 

$

49

 

Bank of New York Time Deposit, 0.05%, due 8/1/06

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Cost—$49,084)

 

 

 

49,084

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Investments—97.34%

 

 

 

 

 

(Cost—$94,710,832)

 

 

 

120,088,222

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other assets less liabilities—2.66%

 

 

 

3,287,107

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NET ASSETS

 

 

 

 

 

(Applicable to 14,420,917 shares of capital stock outstanding; equivalent to $8.56 per share)

 

100.00

%

$

123,375,329

 

 

3



 

Item 2. Controls and Procedures.

 

a)     The Registrant’s Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer concluded that the Registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) were effective as of a date within 90 days prior to the filing date of this report (the “Evaluation Date”), based on their evaluation of the effectiveness of the Registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures as of the Evaluation Date.

 

b)    There were no changes in the Registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (17 CFR 270.30a-3(d)) that occurred during the Registrant’s last fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

Item 3.    Exhibits.

 

(a)   Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer of the Registrant as required by Rule 30a-2(a) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (17 CFR 270.30a-2(a)) is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.302CERT.

 



 

SIGNATURES

 

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

The Japan Equity Fund, Inc.

 

 

 

By

\s\John J. O’Keefe

 

 

John J. O’Keefe, Vice President & Treasurer

 

 

 

Date: August 4, 2006

 

 

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

 

By

\s\John J. O’Keefe

 

Date: August 4, 2006

John J. O’Keefe, Vice President & Treasurer

 

 

 

\s\ Hiroshi Kimura

 

Date: August 4, 2006

Hiroshi Kimura, Chairman