IPOs in Japan Haven’t Been This Hot Since the Dot-Com Bubble Bloomberg 12/29/2020 (Bloomberg) -- In a surprisingly strong year for initial public offerings globally, Japan’s 2020 market debutantes enjoyed their best opening share performances since the dot-com bubble era, helped by a groundswell of retail investors hungry for tech issues. The average initial pop for IPOs in the Japanese market this year was nearly 130%, the most since 1999. The best performer was artificial-intelligence systems firm Headwaters Co., which jumped 1,090% in its first trade. Image-recognition software maker Ficha Inc. came second with an 806% gain, followed by internet-of-things developer Tasuki Corp., which rose 655%.