Inflation-Adjusted Japan ETF (EWJ)

The iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) provides exposure to large and mid-cap Japanese stocks across various sectors, tracking the MSCI Japan Index.

While nominal investment returns may appear impressive over decades, they often disguise inflation's impact on actual purchasing power. This page adjusts the historical price of EWJ for inflation, using the US Consumer Price Index to reveal its real performance over time.

Nominal prices are adjusted for stock splits and assume reinvestment of any dividends to reflect total return. Inflation-adjusted prices use May 2026 as the baseline (latest available CPI).

The current value of the iShares MSCI Japan ETF is 94.55 (as of the close of Jul 10, 2026), 2.5% lower than the all-time high of 96.97 (Jun 22, 2026).

Since March 18, 1996, the inflation-adjusted total return for the ETF has been 7.9%, which is equivalent to an annual growth rate of 0.25%.

In nominal values, the total return since this date has been 132.24%, or an annualized rate of 2.82%.

Inflation-Adjusted Values by Month

This data presents the ETF's end-of-month closing levels over time. Inflation-adjusted figures show what past levels would be worth using roughly today's purchasing power based on the latest CPI data, the same present-value method used by the US Inflation Calculator to compare dollar amounts across different years. The latest entry in the table will have equal nominal and adjusted values until the next CPI figures are released.

Date Inflation-Adjusted Nominal value
Jul 2026 94.55 94.55
Jun 2026 93.27 93.27
May 2026 92.46 92.46
Apr 2026 89.18 88.62
Mar 2026 85.23 83.99
Feb 2026 94.22 91.87
Jan 2026 87.85 85.26
Dec 2025 83.05 80.31
Nov 2025 82.39 79.69
Oct 2025 80.11 80.11
Sep 2025 79.45 77
Aug 2025 77.73 75.15
Jul 2025 73.32 70.68
Jun 2025 74.77 71.97
May 2025 73.59 70.59
Apr 2025 71.06 68.03
Mar 2025 68.42 65.29
Feb 2025 68.49 65.21
Jan 2025 68.63 65.06
Dec 2024 67.85 63.9
Nov 2024 69.43 65.36
Oct 2024 67.78 63.84
Sep 2024 71.32 67.1
Aug 2024 71.86 67.5
Jul 2024 70.92 66.56
Jun 2024 68.27 64
May 2024 68.52 64.22
Apr 2024 66.94 62.63
Mar 2024 71.28 66.43
Feb 2024 69.5 64.36
Jan 2024 66.99 61.65
Dec 2023 65.24 59.72
Nov 2023 62.76 57.5
Oct 2023 58.98 54.15
Sep 2023 60.29 55.37
Aug 2023 61.79 56.61
Jul 2023 63.85 58.24
Jun 2023 62.44 56.85
May 2023 59.64 54.13
Apr 2023 59.29 53.67
Mar 2023 59.44 53.53
Feb 2023 56.84 51.03
Jan 2023 59.95 53.52
Dec 2022 56.07 49.66
Nov 2022 57.17 50.78
Oct 2022 51.16 45.5
Sep 2022 50.2 44.46
Aug 2022 55.19 48.77
Jul 2022 57.8 51.1
Jun 2022 54.38 48.08
May 2022 59.53 51.92
Apr 2022 59.16 51.04
Mar 2022 64.74 55.54
Feb 2022 67.02 56.74
Jan 2022 68.85 57.76
Dec 2021 72.55 60.36
Nov 2021 71.17 59.03
Oct 2021 73.75 60.87
Sep 2021 76.37 62.51
Aug 2021 74.56 60.87
Jul 2021 73.31 59.72
Jun 2021 74.13 60.1
May 2021 75.42 60.59
Apr 2021 74.74 59.56
Mar 2021 76.59 60.53
Feb 2021 76.79 60.27
Jan 2021 75.82 59.18
Dec 2020 76.79 59.68
Nov 2020 72.97 56.66
Oct 2020 65.96 51.25
Sep 2020 66.93 51.98
Aug 2020 65.83 51.06
Jul 2020 61.84 47.81
Jun 2020 62.82 48.33
May 2020 63.23 48.38
Apr 2020 59.07 45.19
Mar 2020 55.99 43.12
Feb 2020 59.9 46.24
Jan 2020 65.5 50.42
Dec 2019 67.45 51.72
Nov 2019 66.82 51.28
Oct 2019 65.94 50.64
Sep 2019 63.91 48.96
Aug 2019 60.78 46.53
Jul 2019 61.26 46.9
Jun 2019 61.62 47.1
May 2019 59 45.09
Apr 2019 62.16 47.4
Mar 2019 61.69 46.8
Feb 2019 61.63 46.49
Jan 2019 61.8 46.42
Dec 2018 57.83 43.35
Nov 2018 62.45 46.97
Oct 2018 61.68 46.54
Sep 2018 67.86 51.12
Aug 2018 65.67 49.41
Jul 2018 66.06 49.67
Jun 2018 65.36 49.15
May 2018 67.02 50.31
Apr 2018 68.31 51.07
Mar 2018 68.63 51.1
Feb 2018 69.22 51.43
Jan 2018 71.67 53.01
Dec 2017 68.61 50.47
Nov 2017 68.1 50.13
Oct 2017 66.67 49.07
Sep 2017 63.29 46.61
Aug 2017 62.48 45.77
Jul 2017 62.73 45.82
Jun 2017 61.41 44.89
May 2017 60.67 44.3
Apr 2017 59.09 43.11
Mar 2017 58.85 42.82
Feb 2017 58.59 42.59
Jan 2017 58.02 42.04
Dec 2016 56.38 40.62
Nov 2016 56.93 41
Oct 2016 57.56 41.52
Sep 2016 57.22 41.23
Aug 2016 56.17 40.37
Jul 2016 55.22 39.65
Jun 2016 52.57 37.81
May 2016 53.65 38.46
Apr 2016 52.18 37.25
Mar 2016 52.38 37.22
Feb 2016 50.21 35.52
Jan 2016 53.06 37.51
Dec 2015 56.02 39.54
Nov 2015 56.61 40.09
Oct 2015 56.22 39.9
Sep 2015 52.14 37.02
Aug 2015 55.2 39.25
Jul 2015 58.8 41.88
Jun 2015 58.26 41.49
May 2015 59.26 42.05
Apr 2015 58.7 41.44
Mar 2015 57.31 40.38
Feb 2015 56.82 39.8
Jan 2015 53.09 37.03
Dec 2014 51.69 36.22
Nov 2014 52.82 37.22
Oct 2014 54.53 38.63
Sep 2014 53.08 37.7
Aug 2014 53.26 37.8
Jul 2014 54.07 38.44
Jun 2014 54.23 38.57
May 2014 51.9 36.84
Apr 2014 49.83 35.25
Mar 2014 51.13 36.05
Feb 2014 52.73 36.94
Jan 2014 51.64 36.05
Dec 2013 55.54 38.63
Nov 2013 54.76 38.09
Oct 2013 53.97 37.61
Sep 2013 53.88 37.64
Aug 2013 49.19 34.33
Jul 2013 50.83 35.43
Jun 2013 50.85 35.43
May 2013 49.04 34.09
Apr 2013 53.02 36.79
Mar 2013 48.89 33.96
Feb 2013 46.34 32.1
Jan 2013 45.62 31.35
Dec 2012 44.75 30.66
Nov 2012 42.25 29.03
Oct 2012 40.84 28.19
Sep 2012 41.32 28.53
Aug 2012 41 28.19
Jul 2012 40.91 27.97
Jun 2012 42.76 29.28
May 2012 39.95 27.4
Apr 2012 43.72 30.02
Mar 2012 45.83 31.37
Feb 2012 45.32 30.79
Jan 2012 43.51 29.43
Dec 2011 41.69 28.08
Nov 2011 42.55 28.72
Oct 2011 42.37 28.63
Sep 2011 42.56 28.81
Aug 2011 44.38 30
Jul 2011 48.39 32.62
Jun 2011 47.16 31.77
May 2011 45.99 31.01
Apr 2011 47.38 31.8
Mar 2011 46.73 31.16
Feb 2011 52.72 34.82
Jan 2011 50.22 33
Dec 2010 50.37 32.94
Nov 2010 47.18 30.8
Oct 2010 46.05 30.05
Sep 2010 45.51 29.66
Aug 2010 43.18 28.13
Jul 2010 44.4 28.88
Jun 2010 42.42 27.59
May 2010 43.5 28.32
Apr 2010 47.56 30.94
Mar 2010 47.87 31.09
Feb 2010 45.77 29.6
Jan 2010 45.32 29.3
Dec 2009 45.01 29
Nov 2009 43.71 28.22
Oct 2009 43.7 28.19
Sep 2009 45.52 29.34
Aug 2009 46.84 30.16
Jul 2009 45.33 29.13
Jun 2009 43.24 27.83
May 2009 43.11 27.51
Apr 2009 39.26 24.98
Mar 2009 36.54 23.19
Feb 2009 34.17 21.64
Jan 2009 39.28 24.75
Dec 2008 44.83 28.12
Nov 2008 39.78 25.22
Oct 2008 40.55 26.21
Sep 2008 47.54 31.04
Aug 2008 50.82 33.22
Jul 2008 53.23 34.94
Jun 2008 55.61 36.31
May 2008 60.7 39.24
Apr 2008 60.04 38.49
Mar 2008 56.26 35.85
Feb 2008 57.48 36.31
Jan 2008 58.53 36.86
Dec 2007 61.45 38.51
Nov 2007 64.35 40.36
Oct 2007 66.07 41.19
Sep 2007 66.12 41.13
Aug 2007 65.05 40.36
Jul 2007 66.59 41.39
Jun 2007 66.95 41.62
May 2007 67.49 41.88
Apr 2007 66.42 40.96
Mar 2007 68.2 41.79
Feb 2007 69.72 42.34
Jan 2007 67.96 41.05
Dec 2006 67.69 40.76
Nov 2006 65.42 39.33
Oct 2006 65.32 39.33
Sep 2006 63.7 38.56
Aug 2006 64.18 39.05
Jul 2006 63.65 38.65
Jun 2006 64.17 38.85
May 2006 65.99 39.88
Apr 2006 70.11 42.15
Mar 2006 68.79 41.01
Feb 2006 66.29 39.31
Jan 2006 67.48 39.93
Dec 2005 65.57 38.51
Nov 2005 59.93 35.34
Oct 2005 57.78 34.35
Sep 2005 58.28 34.57
Aug 2005 53.86 31.57
Jul 2005 49.86 29.07
Jun 2005 49.55 28.76
May 2005 49.48 28.7
Apr 2005 50.06 29.07
Mar 2005 51.58 29.75
Feb 2005 53.57 30.66
Jan 2005 52.78 30.04
Dec 2004 54.54 30.97
Nov 2004 51.1 29.12
Oct 2004 49.24 28.05
Sep 2004 48.35 27.4
Aug 2004 49.85 28.19
Jul 2004 49.18 27.8
Jun 2004 53 30
May 2004 50.01 28.22
Apr 2004 51.06 28.64
Mar 2004 54.91 30.7
Feb 2004 49.37 27.43
Jan 2004 49.38 27.29
Dec 2003 49.51 27.23
Nov 2003 45.96 25.31
Oct 2003 47.27 26.1
Sep 2003 44.77 24.74
Aug 2003 42.56 23.44
Jul 2003 39.11 21.46
Jun 2003 37.46 20.53
May 2003 35.02 19.18
Apr 2003 33.01 18.1
Mar 2003 33.19 18.24
Feb 2003 35.36 19.32
Jan 2003 35.26 19.12
Dec 2002 36.36 19.63
Nov 2002 37.38 20.22
Oct 2002 36.07 19.52
Sep 2002 38.33 20.7
Aug 2002 40.91 22.06
Jul 2002 41.31 22.2
Jun 2002 44.35 23.81
May 2002 47.17 25.31
Apr 2002 44.43 23.84
Mar 2002 43.09 22.99
Feb 2002 39.76 21.1
Jan 2002 38.16 20.17
Dec 2001 41.3 21.77
Nov 2001 44.71 23.67
Oct 2001 44.69 23.7
Sep 2001 44.59 23.72
Aug 2001 48.74 25.81
Jul 2001 50.12 26.55
Jun 2001 54.4 28.89
May 2001 58 30.76
Apr 2001 60.03 31.69
Mar 2001 55 28.92
Feb 2001 56.69 29.74
Jan 2001 59.46 31.07
Dec 2000 60.17 31.24
Nov 2000 63.88 33.18
Oct 2000 69.01 35.83
Sep 2000 72.2 37.42
Aug 2000 76.34 39.36
Jul 2000 71.64 36.94
Jun 2000 80.79 41.56
May 2000 76.87 39.34
Apr 2000 81.64 41.73
Mar 2000 88.38 45.15
Feb 2000 82.02 41.56
Jan 2000 83.53 42.07
Dec 1999 88.88 44.64
Nov 1999 82.51 41.43
Oct 1999 80.19 40.25
Sep 1999 75.58 37.87
Aug 1999 72.88 36.34
Jul 1999 73.14 36.38
Jun 1999 68.24 33.84
May 1999 61.76 30.63
Apr 1999 65.51 32.49
Mar 1999 63.24 31.14
Feb 1999 55.85 27.41
Jan 1999 57.98 28.43
Dec 1998 56.74 27.75
Nov 1998 55.32 27.07
Oct 1998 53.6 26.23
Sep 1998 44.37 21.66
Aug 1998 43.73 21.32
Jul 1998 52.4 25.52
Jun 1998 54.55 26.53
May 1998 53.92 26.2
Apr 1998 57.51 27.89
Mar 1998 55.52 26.87
Feb 1998 62.62 30.25
Jan 1998 62.03 29.91
Dec 1997 55.48 26.7
Nov 1997 58.91 28.39
Oct 1997 63.08 30.42
Sep 1997 69.91 33.63
Aug 1997 70.79 33.97
Jul 1997 78.66 37.67
Jun 1997 79.81 38.18
May 1997 75.67 36.15
Apr 1997 68.91 32.94
Mar 1997 65.1 31.08
Feb 1997 68.1 32.43
Jan 1997 66.9 31.76
Dec 1996 74.6 35.31
Nov 1996 80.67 38.18
Oct 1996 79.03 37.33
Sep 1996 85.03 40.04
Aug 1996 82.42 38.68
Jul 1996 87.26 40.88
Jun 1996 91.76 42.91
May 1996 90.74 42.4
Apr 1996 95.26 44.43
Mar 1996 91.26 42.4

Returns from Investing in the iShares MSCI Japan ETF

How much did an investment in the EWJ ETF really grow each year after accounting for inflation? The following chart contains the inflation-adjusted real annual percentage returns.

Detailed Annual Returns (Adjusted vs. Nominal)

The table below shows the returns for the iShares MSCI Japan ETF by year, both inflation-adjusted and nominal. You can sort any column by clicking on the header.

Observe how inflation erodes nominal gains, sometimes resulting in a negative real return even when the ETF nominally increased, as in 2021.

Year Inflation-Adjusted Return Nominal Return
2024 4% 7%
2023 16.36% 20.26%
2022 -22.72% -17.73%
2021 -5.52% 1.13%
2020 13.84% 15.39%
2019 16.65% 19.31%
2018 -15.72% -14.11%
2017 21.69% 24.26%
2016 0.65% 2.74%
2015 8.37% 9.16%
2014 -6.93% -6.23%
2013 24.12% 25.99%
2012 7.33% 9.2%
2011 -17.23% -14.77%
2010 11.91% 13.58%
2009 0.4% 3.13%
2008 -27.05% -26.98%
2007 -9.22% -5.51%
2006 3.23% 5.85%
2005 20.23% 24.33%
2004 10.15% 13.74%
2003 36.17% 38.73%
2002 -11.95% -9.86%
2001 -31.37% -30.31%
2000 -32.3% -30.01%
1999 56.65% 60.85%
1998 2.28% 3.93%
1997 -25.64% -24.37%

Ishares Msci Japan Etf: Average Annualized Returns

Annualized returns show the average rate of growth per year, making it easier to compare performance across different time periods. While nominal returns indicate the headline growth, adjusting for inflation reveals the actual change in purchasing power.

This table presents both nominal and inflation-adjusted average annual returns for the iShares MSCI Japan over various trailing periods ending May 31, 2026, offering a clearer view of long-term, real investment performance.

Period Avg. Annual Return (Inflation-Adjusted) Avg. Annual Return (Nominal)
Last 1 year 25.65% 30.99%
Last 3 years 15.73% 19.54%
Last 5 years 4.16% 8.82%
Last 10 years 5.59% 9.17%
Last 20 years 1.7% 4.29%
Last 30 years 0.06% 2.63%

Real Returns of Investing in the iShares MSCI Japan

The chart and table below show the nominal and inflation-adjusted value of a hypothetical $100 investment over various long-term historical periods, ending in September 2025.

The inflation-adjusted line, in green, represents the real increase in purchasing power for the initial investment. Observe the gap between both lines, which illustrates the cumulative effect of inflation over time.

Even over just five years, inflation takes a noticeable bite out of investments. Investing $100 in the iShares MSCI Japan five years ago yielded an 27.77% nominal gain, but the real return (the actual increase in buying power) was 3.46%.

As investment periods get longer, the difference between reported nominal returns and the inflation-adjusted gains usually becomes much greater due to the compounding effect of inflation over time.

Investment Period What $100 Grew To (Nominal) Total Nominal Return (%) Total Inflation-Adjusted Return (%)
Last 5 years Feb 2021 - Sep 2025 $127.77 27.77% 3.46%
Last 10 years Feb 2016 - Sep 2025 $216.76 116.76% 58.24%
Last 25 years Feb 2001 - Sep 2025 $258.92 158.92% 40.14%

About the iShares MSCI Japan ETF

The iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) is an exchange-traded fund managed by BlackRock that seeks to track the performance of the MSCI Japan Index. Launched in March 1996, EWJ was one of the first country-specific ETFs and provides investors with broad exposure to the Japanese equity market. The fund includes large and mid-cap Japanese companies across various sectors, offering a convenient way for investors to gain diversified exposure to Japan's economy and stock market through a single US-listed security.

Last Close
Jul 10, 2026
94.55
Highest
Jun 22, 2026
96.97
Highest, Inflation-Adjusted
Jun 22, 2026
96.97
Annualized return
Since Mar 18, 1996
2.82%
Annualized return, Inflation-Adjusted
Since Mar 18, 1996
0.25%

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Other Inflation-Adjusted Data