Japan Stocks Are Back at 1996 High - And Still Playing Catch Up

(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average marked a milestone on Wednesday, vaulting past a 2015 peak to close at the highest level in more than two decades.

Take a longer timeframe, though, and investors might be excused for putting the champagne back on ice. In the same time it took the Nikkei 225 to recover to its late 1996 levels, the S&P 500 Index has soared 243 percent. And among major markets, only Italian equities have done worse than those in Tokyo.