Japan’s main stock index was the Nikkei 225 when it reached its 1989 bubble-era closing peak. The Nikkei closed at 38,915.87 on December 29, 1989.
Japan’s late-1980s asset-price bubble involved rapidly rising stock and land prices, abundant credit, and optimistic expectations. Monetary tightening and other policy changes helped end the boom. After the peak, share prices fell for years, while banks and companies struggled with bad loans and excessive debt.
The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index of 225 major companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime Market. It is often confused with TOPIX, which is a broader, capitalization-weighted index. Japan’s post-bubble stagnation is commonly called the “Lost Decades,” although the timing and economic experience varied across sectors and periods.