The Japanese stock index that closed at 38,915.87 at the height of the asset bubble was the Nikkei 225. The closing figure was recorded on December 29, 1989, near the end of Japan’s extraordinary late-1980s boom.
The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index of 225 major companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. On that same day, it reached an intraday high of 38,957.44 before closing slightly lower. The index had risen roughly sixfold during the decade.
The peak reflected a broader asset bubble fueled by abundant credit, monetary easing, speculation, and rapidly rising land and share prices. The Bank of Japan later tightened policy, borrowing costs increased, and stock prices began a steep decline. The Nikkei fell to about 14,309 by August 1992.
TOPIX is another major Japanese index, but it was not the index identified by the 38,915.87 figure. KOSPI and the Hang Seng Index represent South Korea and Hong Kong, respectively.