Ranging from hip-hop music to premium wines and a ramen court, funds are emerging in myriad fields to whet the appetites of investors tired of the minuscule interest on regular bank deposits and eager for a taste of adventure.
With interest rates glued to almost zero percent for years, analysts said, people are gradually warming to the idea of investing in new financial tools that might offer them the possibility of a higher return.
However, funds -- which collect money from investors and pay them a return from profits earned by the investment -- are a jumble of wheat and chaff, as the Financial Services Agency pointedly warned last month.