What was the peak date of Japan’s Nikkei 225 before the 1990s asset-price crash?

Japan’s Nikkei 225 reached its pre-crash peak on December 29, 1989.

The index closed at 38,915.87, marking the high point of Japan’s late-1980s asset-price bubble. Japanese share and land prices had risen dramatically amid easy credit, optimistic expectations, and rapidly expanding financial activity.

The Bank of Japan tightened monetary policy beginning in 1989, and the bubble began to deflate. Stock prices fell heavily during the early 1990s, while land values also declined. The resulting period of weak growth and financial stress became known as Japan’s “Lost Decades.”

The date is sometimes confused with January 1990, when the Nikkei’s decline became more visible. December 29 is the key historical date because it records the market’s peak, not the later low. The Nikkei did not return to that closing level for decades.