12 Trillion Yen in Net Worth! The Creator of the “Orkan”—a Huge Hit on NISA—Reveals the Secrets to Becoming a Millionaire with a Hands-Off Approach

“eMAXIS Slim Global Equity (All Country),” commonly known as “Orkan,” has become synonymous with the NISA “regular savings investment quota.” Hideo Shirota is known as the man behind it. He has not only created a blockbuster mutual fund but has also significantly transformed the very concept of financial products.  

To popularize “index investing”—a concept that was unfamiliar to many individual investors—he introduced the concept of “branding” to products aimed at retail investors and achieved remarkable success. As a result, even as competitors launched a steady stream of similar products, he has consistently expanded his market share.

Furthermore, in his recent book, *Orkan Thinking: A Textbook on “Long-Term Investing” to Make the Global Economy Your Ally*, he emphasizes the significance of incorporating “sustainable global economic growth” into one’s personal life through investment in Orkan. The stock market, which has been rising steadily until now, is currently experiencing significant volatility at record highs. Now, more than ever, it is worth reconsidering the importance of long-term investing.  

25 Trillion Yen in Assets! The Two Strongest Funds

The flagship funds of the “eMAXIS Slim” series are “Orkan” and “eMAXIS Slim U.S. Stocks (S&P 500)” (hereinafter “S&P 500”).In terms of total net assets, “Orkan” stands at 12.7 trillion yen and “S&P 500” at 12.3 trillion yen (as of the end of June ’26), ranking first and second among domestic mutual funds.

As of the end of May ’26, there were approximately 5,900 mutual funds (publicly offered funds) available to domestic retail investors. Since the total net assets of these funds amount to approximately 365 trillion yen, these two funds alone account for nearly 8% of the total net assets of all 5,900 funds.

Both Orkan and the S&P 500 are leading overseas equity index funds. As financial products, they are easy to “copy,” and in fact, many similar funds are sold by competitors. Despite this, why have these two funds established such a dominant position? The answer lies in a “brand strategy” that is virtually unprecedented among financial products.

Mr. Shirota joined Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management in 2008. At the time, 90 percent of the mutual funds selling well to individual investors were actively managed, and the “best sellers” were monthly distribution funds. He says he immediately questioned this situation.

“In the world of institutional investors—such as pension fund management—which I had been responsible for until then, the mainstream approach was to anchor the ‘core’ portion of the portfolio with low-cost index funds and use a portion of the funds to take on risk with higher-cost active funds.I felt a sense of dissonance—why weren’t retail investors doing what the professionals were doing?” (Hideo Shirota / same below)

Index investing, which tracks market movements, had become standard practice for institutional investors, but it was still unfamiliar to retail investors at the time.The “core-satellite strategy”—which treats “defensive assets (management)” as the core and “offensive assets (management)” as “satellites”—is an approach that seeks to optimize risk-return efficiency over the medium to long term, and its effectiveness remains unchanged today, just as it was in the past, regardless of whether the investor is a professional or an individual.

“I believed that if the common sense of institutional investors were to permeate the retail market, there would be room for index funds to become even more widespread.”— Mr. Shida’s vision came to fruition, and in October 2009, the eMAXIS series was launched.

A Zero-Commission Strategy That Abandoned Face-to-Face Sales

However, at the time, even financial magazines rarely covered index funds, and coverage in the mass media was virtually nonexistent. Sales channels such as securities firms and banks also continued to focus primarily on selling high-fee active funds.

“To make index funds feel accessible to individual investors, simply creating a good product wasn’t enough. We needed to devise a sales strategy and establish it as a ‘brand.’”

So, first, they decided to set the management fee lower than competitors’, adopt a “no-distribution” structure with no dividend payouts, and make it a “no-load fund”—a zero-sales-commission product that very few funds had introduced at the time.

The decision to offer no-load funds was particularly significant. Since they generate almost no commissions, securities firms and banks with in-person sales channels were largely unwilling to carry them. However, we had already factored that in. We had decided to make online, non-face-to-face sales our primary distribution channel.

“In face-to-face sales, the mainstream approach is a ‘push-type’ sales style where salespeople make recommendations. Online brokerages, on the other hand, were promoting a ‘self-service’ sales model where users could freely select products on their own.An environment was established where individuals could choose their own investment destinations based on their own judgment. Against this backdrop, our intention was to offer multiple asset classes under a single brand—the ‘eMAXIS’ series—and thereby broaden the range of choices available to individual investors.”

There was another groundbreaking initiative: the “Blogger Meetings.” We invited “bloggers”—individuals who primarily shared information about mutual funds on their personal blogs—to gather and exchange opinions. At the time, it was extremely rare for an asset management company to connect with individual investors and bloggers, and he reflects, “I believe this laid the foundation for building a relationship of trust with investors.”In fact, this later laid the groundwork for the creation of “Orkan.”

Led by the United States, index investing became widespread among individual investors. While the eMAXIS series steadily accumulated net assets, competitors also launched index fund series one after another, and some even offered lower costs than eMAXIS. A fierce cost war had begun.

For users new to index investing, there was no reason to pay higher fees if the underlying investments were the same. As he gradually found himself at a disadvantage, Mr. Shirota took a bold step. In February 2017, to win the cost war, he launched a new series called “eMAXIS Slim.”

To reduce costs, all documents—such as prospectuses and management reports—were digitized and made available for viewing online. This completely eliminated printing and postage costs.

However, the most distinctive feature of the “Slim Series” was its commitment to “continuing to aim for the industry’s lowest management costs into the future.” This meant that if another index fund with a lower management fee than the “Slim Series” were to appear, they would lower their own management fee to be even lower than that of the competitor.

“ “We recommend long-term investing through index funds. We want investors to hold their positions for 20, 30 years, or even longer. That means our costs must not only be the lowest now, but must remain the lowest 10 and 20 years from now as well. We put that forward as a clear message.”

From the perspective of sales firms, this means accepting the possibility that the commissions they will receive in the future may decrease. Sales firms must also share the values of index investing. In the mutual fund industry, where sales firms wield significant influence, this was an extremely unusual move.

The Untold Story Behind the Blockbuster “Orkan”

The “Slim Series” has introduced a new fund called the “3-Region Equal-Weight Fund.” This fund combines existing index funds covering Japan, developed markets, and emerging markets, and was launched with the intention of making it the standard for global diversified investing.

However, at a blogger meeting in 2018, one participant reportedly suggested, “We want a fund that tracks a global equity index.” Similar opinions had been heard sporadically even before that, so the company set out to develop a new index fund. The result was the “eMAXIS Slim Global Equity Fund”—“Orkan.”

In other words, Orkan reflects the needs of individual investors, and the company was able to identify and address those needs thanks to the foundation of trust it had built with individual investors over many years.

Thanks to this trust, retail investors—including bloggers—actively recommended “Orkan” through social media and other channels. This “endorsement” from a neutral standpoint resonated with those who had just started investing through NISA, enabling “Orkan” to establish a solid brand—a rarity among financial products.

In his recent book, Mr. Shirota proposes a new concept called “Orkan Thinking.” At first glance, it might seem as though he is simply capitalizing on the “Orkan” name, but that is not the case. “Participate in global growth while enjoying the benefits of a prosperous life in Japan”— this, he explains, is the fundamental framework of Orkan Thinking.

He emphasizes the importance of reframing wealth accumulation not as “merely a matter of financial gain or loss,” but as a “healthy engagement” with capitalist society and the global economy.

“Investing in index funds is not the goal; the goal is, ultimately, to live a fulfilling life. ‘Orkan Thinking’ is a broad framework for life strategy that addresses how to connect ‘the sustainable growth of the global economy’ with ‘the limited timeframe of one’s own life.’”

By investing in Orkan, you accumulate the fruits of economic growth—which are difficult to obtain through domestic investments alone—as assets. Actual investing is wisely “systematized” using tools like automatic savings plans, allowing you to continue steadily without getting caught up in the daily ups and downs of the market.

While anxiety about retirement tends to be widely publicized these days, this framework of thinking suggests that by building these “systems,” you can free yourself from financial worries and regain control of your own life.

However, it’s easier said than done. This is because continuing to invest is far more difficult than simply starting to invest. Even if you understand that long-term investing is crucial, there will inevitably be times when your emotions are shaken by fluctuations in stock prices.

Mr. Shirota advocates a “mindset for long-term investing” that allows you to build assets steadily without getting carried away by market fluctuations. In the paid version of [FRIDAY Subscription], he explains in detail how to avoid the “NISA Poverty Trap”—a pitfall many people fall into—why global diversification is the “strongest defense,” and the specific mindset needed to aim for “100-million-yen wealth” through ordinary index investing.

▼ Hideo Shirota— Representative of Shirota Wealth & Well-being Advisors.Former Managing Director at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management. After joining Mitsubishi Trust Bank (now Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank) in 1985, he worked in retail wealth management and corporate lending at branch offices before spending approximately 30 years managing pension funds and mutual funds.He moved to Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management in 2008 and is the creator of “Orkan,” the brand behind the “eMAXIS” and “eMAXIS Slim” series. After stepping down in April ’25, he established his own firm. He also serves as an adjunct lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Chuo University (teaching International Finance).In April ’26, he published his first book for the general public, *Orkan’s Thinking: A Textbook on “Long-Term Investing” to Make the Global Economy Your Ally* (Gakken).

■ Click here to purchase *Orkan Thinking: A Textbook on “Long-Term Investing” to Make the Global Economy Work for You* (Gakken).