A pair of former Morgan Stanley managing directors has launched a hedge fund focused on the Land of the Rising Sun.

Arif Imam, who headed Japanese equities distribution at Morgan Stanley, and Douglas Butcher, who worked on credit trading for Japanese equities, have set up Shaka Capital Management in New York. Imam serves as the firm’s business manager and Butcher as its trader. The firm also boasts Federated Global and TIAA-CREF veteran Alexandre de Bethmann as portfolio manager.

The firm launched its Shaka Japan Fund in January with partner capital, Asian Investor reports. The Japan-only long/short fund, which is targeting a 12% to 15% annual return, concentrates on the top 250 stocks on the Japanese market. Shaka Japan has an estimated capacity of $1 billion.