The Nikkei is back at 30,000. But it's a whole different world.

The last time stocks in Tokyo were this high, things were a little different. Orders now silently processed in milliseconds were shouted across smoky open outcry trading floors. Yuriko Koike, now Tokyo's governor, was a fresh-faced TV presenter on the country's leading business news show. The U.S. fretted over "Japan as number one," while China was an economic backwater. That's how long it's been since the 225-issue Nikkei stock average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange passed 30,000, an event which first took place in December 1988.