The Coming Week in Asia: IPO a Ray of Hope on Bleak Tokyo Stock Scene

TOKYO -- If you think the near 5% slide the Nasdaq Composite Index took over the past three months is irritating, try not to look at charts of the major Japanese indices.

The Nikkei 225 index is down 14.1% over the same period, while the broad Topix index, akin to America's S&P 500, has shed 13.9%. Retail investors are beating down Japanese technology shares to the point it looks as if they're exacting revenge.

What's behind the financial payback? For one thing, retail investors were so blinded by the tech hoopla that brokers feverishly pitched at the beginning of the year, they didn't think twice when plunking down for stock at the top of the market. Many of them were punting on margin, posting just part of the cost and borrowing the rest from their brokers. ...