This Saturday in Personal Finance Focus

Investing in Japan mutual funds requires faith and fortitude. While last year yielded triple-digit returns for most funds in the category, the average Japan fund lost money five calendar years in the 1990s, and they've been taking a beating this year.

On Saturday, The Big Screen will attempt to pinpoint the Japan funds that have provided the steadiest returns in this volatile category. As you'll see, the list of funds surviving our screening criteria is a short one.

We'll also have two other Asia-focused stories on Saturday:

• TSC Asia correspondent Philip Segal notes that for all their volatility, Asia-focused funds are fairly tax efficient.

• And Mercer Bullard of the shareholder advocacy group, Fund Democracy, takes another look at how arbitragers are finding easy profits by investing in Asian funds that are slow to update the value of the securities in their portfolios.

Also coming Saturday in Personal Finance Focus:

• Money manager James Brookes-Avey offers another of his occasional case studies, this one on a successful one-month investment in Rexall Sundown (RXSD) that yielded a 55% gain.

• Mark Ingebretsen surveys new investing options available to the not-so-active trader in his Tools of the Trade column.

• Tracy Byrnes answers more reader tax questions in Tax Forum.

See you on Saturday.

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