Japan’s Nikkei 225 reached its record closing high on December 29, 1989, before a historic crash.
The Nikkei 225 closed at 38,915.87 on that date, at the height of Japan’s asset-price bubble. Japanese land and equity prices had surged during the 1980s, supported by rapid credit growth and optimistic expectations. When the Bank of Japan tightened monetary policy and the bubble burst, stock and property prices fell dramatically.
The Nikkei’s decline became a defining feature of Japan’s so-called Lost Decades. The index did not regain its 1989 closing high for more than three decades; it finally surpassed that level in 2024. The episode is often compared with other crashes, but Japan’s prolonged aftermath reflected banking problems, deflation, weak demand, and the slow recognition of bad loans rather than only a single day of panic.