[nmfisher]

The lesson is still relevant though - i.e. if you bought shares in the top 100 Japanese companies in 1989, it would have taken you ~35 years to break even in nominal terms. That's clearly a bad investment.

[Grimburger]

Forgetting dividends here.

[thsksbd]

And you are forgetting that the index's underlying measure, the yen, has lost value and the NIKKEI has only reached 1989's nominal value.

[mdorazio]

Roughly 27 years with dividend reinvestment (yes, really).