The SEL, modeled on American securities statutes, was adopted during the Allied occupation of Japan; the Japanese Ministry of Finance, prior to 1988, lacked an effective insider trading monitoring system. The effect of the 1988 amendment to the SEL is discussed, along with nonstatutory enforcement methods such as administrative guidance and self-regulation. While the two most important provisions of the 1988 amendment went into effect on April 1, 1989, no litigation of those provisions had arisen as of October 1989. In the past, insider trading was not considered to be a crime in Japan. Now that the practice has been criminalized by Japanese law, it is expected that most Japanese, who place a high value on obeying the law, will avoid criminal insider trading practices. 202 footnotes.