This post is part of Japan: A Special Report for Investors.

"Following the earthquake in Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index lost 18% in just 3 trading days, a worse decline than even the crash of 1987; the behavior of the iShares MSCI Japan Index ETF (EWJ) looks like a selling climax has occurred," says Marvin Appel.

The editor of Systems & Forecasts explains, "After a fast decline, the market bounced on unusually heavy volume. In this particular case, EWJ opened on March 15 with a loss of 7%. However, by the close, all of this loss was recouped on exceptionally heavy volume.

"Even after the recent bump in long-term yields, they remain too low to meet most investors' needs," says Marvin Appel.

The editor of Systems & Forecasts explains, "The iShares NAREIT Mortgage Plus Capped Index ETF (REM) appears to be a good solution for those seeking income in 2011; its current SEC yield exceeds 10%.

"About 2/3 of its holdings are mortgage REITs, which are companies that borrow at short-term rates and use the proceeds to buy mortgage-backed securities.

"Procter & Gamble (PG), a long-time growth stock, is now in value territory based on its above-average dividend yield," says Marvin Appel.

The editor of Systems & Forecasts explains, "The stock is -- which has become a high dividend payer -- is recommended as a long-term holding in a conservative equity portfolio.

"Procter & Gamble, historically an expensive stock in terms of its dividend yield, has developed into a high dividend payer by the standards of the U.S. market.

"Ferrelgas Partners LP (FGP) is a propane distributor whose dividend history and underlying business seem to offer the promise of a secure income stream," notes Marvin Appel and Josh Mandelbaum.

In Systems & Startegies, the advisors explain, "Ferrellgas is the second largest retailer of propane in the U.S. and the largest tank exchange company. The partnership has a 16-year history of paying $2.00/share. This represents a yield of 8.2%.

The editor of Systems & Forecasts explains, "As a result, we are finding that there is a lot of demand among investors for an investment program that can produce attractive levels of income without being too risky; as such, we are introducing a high income portfolio.

"Home prices are becoming affordable again, so the decline in prices is likely more than half over," say Dr. Marvin Appel and Gerald Appel of Systems & Forecasts.

Meanwhile, the technical experts believe that long-term investors can now look to get back into the real estate investment market and recommend two ETFs that are based on rental REITs.

"Many analysts do not expect the financial markets to improve significantly until home prices stop falling. The pace of existing home sales remains low, and available inventory relatively high, both indicating that buyers are not yet able to step into the market at current prices.

"However, that could change within a year. Home prices are becoming affordable again, so the decline in prices is likely more than half over.

"The median home price is now more affordable to the median household than at any time since the start of 2004. My analysis suggests that housing prices will have to fall a bit more, but the housing market is not far from being reasonably valued for the first time in five years.

Regular readers know that I enjoy Barron's Weekly (subscription required) one of the best business journals around and that it has provoked some of my better investment ideas. However, even Barron's can fall prey to bad or incomplete reporting, (as if there were a difference), as they benefit from market activity and can stretch an idea too far, becoming all too common.

Barron's incomplete and common story was in the June 9, 2008 issue titled "Timing is Everything". What I find common, and thus objectionable, is the fact that they choose to tout Appel Asset Management's like so many brokerage houses do numerous funds (for the fees), ignoring basic tidbits like said fees, and taxes. The Appels seem to do an admirable job for their investors but they do not beat the indices, so who cares?

Their simple strategy is to invest in the two broadly based hot ETF's, counting on momentum lasting more than one quarter, and switch them out each quarter. This they claim takes only an hour of work every three months, how lovely. In the story they state "From 1979 through 2007, Marvin Appel would have (emphasis mine) returned 16% a year, before fees, better than the 15% a year performance of the Russell 2000 Value Index". They also leave out how long the approach has actually been in place.

The New York Times recently made a case for investing in stocks to gain exposure to commodities:

But there is an easy way to get a shot at commodity-like returns, without investing directly in commodities or their indexes. Investors can buy shares of the natural resource companies that produce commodities.

However, investors need to be careful: just because a stock is in a sector related to commodities doesn't mean that it will move with the prices of those commodities. Other factors, including decisions by management, any hedging the company may have in place, and other company-specific factors, may cause their returns to differ from those of the underlying commodities. While it's quite true that, as the New York Times points out, natural resources stocks have outperformed commodities in recent years, that is not a trend that will necessarily continue.

There may be good reasons to buy these stocks, but if you want to make a bet on commodities prices, the best way to do that is with exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Back in his days at the Motley Fool, BloggingStocks contributor (who is the source for news and analysis for private equity, by the way) Tom Taulli wrote a nice piece about how to invest in commodities through ETFs.

If you really want to learn about ETFs, I recommend picking up a copy of Investing with Exchange-Traded Funds Made Easy: Higher Returns with Lower Costs -- Do It Yourself Strategies without Paying Fund Managers by Marvin Appel.