Koukyo Yoneta, a fifth-generation Buddhist priest in a small town in Hokkaido, was struggling to keep up with the maintenance needs of his century-old temple, so he chose a path that would have been unthinkable for his predecessors — rather than wait for his congregation to give money they don’t have, he invested what they’d already donated. Within two years, his portfolio of U.S. Treasuries, Japanese real estate investment trusts and stocks including BYD and Hyundai returned more than 10% annually, helping to cover part of the roughly ¥25 million ($162,000) in needed repairs.
The extra money even allowed him to expand the renovations beyond the original plan. Having previously worked in retail sales at Daiwa Securities Group, Yoneta is an unusually finance-savvy priest but is also part of a growing wave of temple owners turning to financial markets to make ends meet. Costs for the upkeep of the ornate wooden buildings are soaring while the country’s Buddhist population has dropped about 14% in the last two decades as elderly adherents die and younger generations in larger cities lose their ties to religious practices.
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