In Japan, where bonds can yield less than zero percent, a bullet train operator planning a ¥392 billion ($3.8 billion) share sale is promising investors dividend returns that would beat most of the nation's stocks.

State-owned Kyushu Railway Co., also known as JR Kyushu, which is currently gauging investor appetite for what could be the world's second-biggest initial public offering this year, has an annualized dividend yield of 3.06 percent. That compares with 2.09 percent for the benchmark Topix index, which has declined about 13 percent this year.

The IPO is set to test a market where more than half the ¥1.7 quadrillion in household savings is held as cash and bank deposits amid dwindling returns due to the central bank's negative interest rate policy. In an industry where East Japan Railway Co. and Central Japan Railway Co. have profit margins that rival Apple Inc.'s, JR Kyushu is coming out with the nation's largest rail share sale in more than a decade.