The Nikkei 225 peaked on December 29, 1989, before Japan's asset-price bubble burst.
The index reached an intraday high of 38,957.44 and closed at 38,915.87 on that date. It tracks 225 major companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime Market and is Japan's best-known stock-market benchmark.
Japan's late-1980s bubble involved soaring land and share prices, easy credit, and strong optimism. After monetary policy tightened, asset values fell. The resulting period of weak growth and financial stress became known as Japan's Lost Decades.
The Nikkei's peak is often confused with a single crash date. In reality, the market declined over an extended period after the 1989 high, with additional financial problems affecting banks and companies during the 1990s.