< The 2016 All-Japan Research Team

Total appearances: 10

Team debut: 2006

Mikiya Yamada slips one notch to third place. Even so, “while other analysts chase quarterly numbers, Yamada-san bases his analyses on deep fundamentals, which makes his views the most helpful,” insists one buy-side loyalist. Yamada tracked 21 Japanese chemicals names for Barclays last year and went on garden leave in late January, when the firm announced that it would shutter its Asia-Pacific equity research department. He covered this sector for J.P. Morgan then Lehman Brothers before jumping to Barclays in October 2008 and expects to begin reporting on the group for Mizuho Securities Group this month. “Mikiya is highly regarded not just by investors but by other chemical analysts for his encyclopedic knowledge, which stems from his background as a chemicals engineer,” attests another admirer, referring to Yamada’s tenure at Dow Chemical Co. in the 1990s. “His operational and technical understanding is important for distilling information about each company’s products and competitive advantages in an industry where commoditization is the norm.”