Japan experienced the Nikkei 225's historic peak before its early-1990s stock-market crash.
The Nikkei 225 reached an intraday record of 38,957.44 on December 29, 1989. That peak came at the end of Japan's asset-price bubble, when share and land prices had risen dramatically amid abundant credit, speculation, and optimistic expectations.
The bubble burst around 1990. Japanese stocks fell for years, while property values also declined and banks struggled with bad loans. The prolonged aftermath is often called Japan's Lost Decades because economic stagnation and financial repair continued well beyond the initial market collapse.
The Nikkei later traded far below its 1989 high for many years. This episode is different from the 1987 global crash: Japan's bubble-related decline was concentrated in its domestic asset boom and developed into a long-running structural crisis.