In the Japanese asset-price bubble, the Nikkei 225 reached 38,957.44 on December 29, 1989.
That closing level marked the index’s peak during Japan’s extraordinary late-1980s boom. Japanese share and land prices had risen rapidly amid easy credit, speculation, and optimism about the country’s economic strength. The Nikkei 225, a price-weighted index of major companies listed in Tokyo, became a widely watched measure of the boom.
After the peak, asset prices fell for years. The decline damaged banks, companies, investors, and households, contributing to Japan’s prolonged economic stagnation. The crash is often discussed as the bursting of Japan’s asset-price bubble rather than as a single one-day event.
The Nikkei 225 is sometimes confused with TOPIX, another important Japanese stock index. They are separate benchmarks, with different construction methods and constituent rules.