What was the name of Japan’s stock-market peak date before its early-1990s crash?

Japan’s stock-market peak before its early-1990s crash occurred on December 29, 1989.

On that date, the Nikkei 225 reached its record closing level of 38,915.87. The peak followed a powerful asset-price boom in which Japanese share and land prices rose to extraordinary levels. Easy credit, optimistic expectations, and financial liberalization contributed to the expansion, while property was widely treated as exceptionally valuable.

The Bank of Japan tightened monetary policy beginning in 1989. As credit conditions changed, asset prices fell, and the Nikkei entered a prolonged decline. The market’s collapse became a central feature of Japan’s “Lost Decades,” a period associated with slow growth, deflationary pressure, and banking-sector problems.

The date is sometimes confused with the beginning of the crash in 1990. December 29 marks the peak; the sustained decline came afterward. The Nikkei did not return to that record closing level until 2024, more than 34 years later.