The Nikkei 225 reached its pre-bubble peak of 38,915.87 on December 29, 1989.
The index’s record reflected Japan’s extraordinary late-1980s asset boom. Stock and land prices rose rapidly amid easy credit, financial optimism and expectations of continuing economic expansion. The Nikkei’s peak marked the end of that phase rather than the beginning of a sustained advance.
Japanese share prices then fell sharply during the early 1990s, while property values also declined. The prolonged aftermath became known as Japan’s Lost Decades, featuring weak growth, banking problems and deflationary pressure.
The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index of 225 major companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime Market. Its 1989 peak is often used as a benchmark for the scale and duration of Japan’s asset-price collapse.