Main stock market of Japan, located in Tokyo.
It opened in 1878 to provide a market for the trading of government bonds newly issued to former samurai. Government bonds and gold and silver currencies initially formed the bulk of trade on the exchange, but the trading of stocks came to predominate by the 1920s and '30s. It was closed from 1945 to 1949, when it opened after being reorganized by the occupying U.S. authorities. Today it accounts for more than 90% of all securities transactions in Japan, and it is one of the world's largest marketplaces for securities . The Nikkei index is the key stock-market index in Tokyo.