The total number of IPOs in 2008 will probably be fewer than 50 (44 companies have received a listing approval this year as of November 7), far below the 121 IPOs in 2007. All three of Japan’s small-company stock markets have seen the number of IPOs drop to the lowest level since 2000. Looking back, the last time Japan had fewer than 100 IPOs in a year was in 1992, when the IPO market was effectively halted.