Tokyo Stock Exchange

The Tokyo Stock Exchange was established on May 15, 1878, as the Tokyo Kabushiki Torihikijounder the direction of then-Finance Minister Okuma Shigenobu and capitalist advocate Shibusawa Eiichi. Trading began on June 1, 1878.

In 1943, the exchange was combined with ten other stock exchanges in major Japanese cities to form a single Japanese Stock ExchangeThe combined exchange was shut down and reorganized shortly after the bombing of Nagasaki.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange reopened under its current Japanese name on May 16, 1949, pursuant to the new Securities Exchange Act.

The TSE runup from 1983 to 1990 was unprecedented, in 1990 it accounted for over 60% of the world's stock market capitalization (by far the world's largest) before falling precipitously in value and rankings today, but still remains one of the 3 largest exchanges in the world by market capitalization of listed shares.

The trading floor of the TSE was closed on April 30, 1999, and the exchange switched to electronic trading for all transactions. A new facility, called TSE Arrows,opened on May 9, 2000.

In 2001, the TSE restructured itself as a stock company: before this time, it was structured as an incorporated association with its members as shareholders.