On what date did Japan’s Nikkei 225 reach its record high before the 1990s crash?

Japan’s Nikkei 225 reached its record high on December 29, 1989, closing at 38,915.87. That peak marked the height of Japan’s late-1980s asset-price bubble before a prolonged market collapse.

During the 1980s, Japanese land and equity prices surged, supported by easy credit, optimistic expectations, and strong corporate and financial activity. The Nikkei had multiplied several times during the decade. After interest rates rose and the bubble began to deflate, Japanese share prices fell sharply in 1990 and continued weakening over subsequent years.

The index did not surpass its 1989 closing record for decades. The episode is commonly linked with Japan’s “Lost Decades,” although the broader economic stagnation involved banking problems, deflation, demographics, and policy choices as well as the stock-market crash. The Nikkei’s 1989 peak remains one of the clearest reference points in discussions of financial bubbles.