New stock markets for venture businesses are emerging in Japan. Last November, the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened "Mothers" (an acronym for "market for high-growth and emerging stocks"). This June, the U.S. National Association of Securities Dealers, Japan's Softbank Corp. and the Osaka Securities Exchange will jointly establish Nasdaq Japan at the OSE.

To fight the new markets, Japanese brokerages that operate the over-the-counter market are moving to relax standards for the public offering of shares. It has been up to stock exchanges to approve or reject the listing of shares, but from now on they will be begging new companies to list. The exchanges will have to reform their systems to facilitate stock investments, in addition to offering help to companies.

In response to calls for the development of capital markets for venture businesses, the Securities Dealers Association of Japan in 1983 expanded the OTC market, using Nasdaq as a model. The OTC market remains a minor presence, however. The trading volume of the market stands at only 1 percent of that of the TSE's first (major) section: The trading value is 2 percent of the comparable TSE figure.