The Nikkei 225 reached 38,915.87 on December 29, 1989, at the peak of Japan’s asset-price bubble.
The index tracks 225 major companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is Japan’s best-known stock-market benchmark. During the late 1980s, Japanese share and land prices rose to extraordinary levels amid abundant credit, financial optimism, and aggressive investment.
After the 1989 peak, Japanese equities entered a prolonged decline. The Nikkei fell sharply in the early 1990s, while the collapse in land prices weakened banks, companies, and household balance sheets. The extended economic stagnation that followed is commonly associated with Japan’s “Lost Decades.”
The Nikkei’s 1989 record remained unbroken for decades, finally being surpassed in 2024. The TOPIX is another major Japanese index, but it is broader and is not the index named in this question.