The Nikkei 225 is the Japanese stock index most closely associated with the country’s 1989–1990 market crash.
Japan’s asset bubble reached its peak at the end of the 1980s. The Nikkei 225 closed at a record 38,915.87 on 29 December 1989. It then fell dramatically as property prices weakened, monetary conditions changed, and confidence in highly valued Japanese companies deteriorated.
The decline became part of Japan’s “Lost Decades,” a prolonged period of weak growth, financial stress, and deflationary pressure. The index did not quickly return to its 1989 high, making the episode one of the clearest examples of how an asset bubble can leave a long economic aftermath.
The Nikkei 225 is not Japan’s only major index. TOPIX covers a broader group of companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while the Nikkei is price-weighted and consists of 225 prominent Japanese companies. That distinction explains why both indexes appear in accounts of the crash.