Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index hit an all-time high on Thursday, closing up 2.2% to reach 39,098.68 and exceeding the previous record set in December 1989. The rise in the index of the biggest Japanese companies has been fuelled by a weak yen, which has boosted the fortunes of exporters, and investors cheering on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s “new capitalism” economic reforms. In the mid-1980s, measures to support the economy and the yen had sparked a frenzied boom that catapulted the real estate and stock markets to unprecedented heights – until it all came crashing down. Japan’s e…