On September 19, 2025, the Bank of Japan issued its latest – Statement on Monetary Policy – where they announced that there would be no change in the overnight call rate (the policy rate). However, they also announced that they would begin selling off their holdings of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Japan real estate investment trusts (J-REITs). Many people are unaware of what these assets are and why the Bank of Japan would be holding them. Further, the media went wild and the Japanese share market gyrated (down) upon the news, suggesting that there was something significant going on or that the ‘markets’ are just dumb. It was the latter by the way. However, this has become an issue in Japan and this blog post is about sorting through the nonsense.