warren buffetts berkshire hathaway inc brk announced monday that it has increased its stakes in japans top five trading houses this move is believed to have contributed to the robust momentum driving the nations stock market to reach multiyear highs the company holds stakes in itochu corp itocf marubeni corp maruf mitsubishi corp msbhf mitsui  co ltd mitsy and sumitomo corp ssumf berkshire said its stakes in these companies now average more than 85 the japanese companies aggregate value considerably exceeds berkshireheld public stocks in any other country outside of the us in 2020 berkshire first bought stakes in japans trading houses the tailwinds for japanese equities continue to multiply reuters quoted charu chanana market strategist at broker saxo markets in singapore as saying also read warren buffetts 151 billion gamble customers wont trade their apple iphones for 10000 and heres why while it was previously hinted that berkshire will increase its stake the announcement has come somewhat sooner than expected and will further boost optimism on japanese stocks chanana said berkshire remains committed to maintaining its japanese investments for the foreseeable future with regard to pricing the company said it is open to expanding its holdings in any of the five assets with a maximum stake of 99 earlier in april buffett traveled to japan and met with the ceos of each of the five companies according to regulatory filings from june 12 the trading firms reports revealed berkshire hathaways ownership percentages as follows 74 of itochus stock 83 of marubeni and mitsubishis stock 81 of mitsuis stock and 82 of sumitomos stock reports reuters now read warren buffett transformed his neighbors life savings of 67000 into 400 million