Not a single listed company has declared bankruptcy this year, the first time in 24 years that has happened and a sign that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reflationary economic policies have been a boon for large businesses.
Firms have benefited from increased capital as "Abenomics" pushed share prices higher, boosting the value of corporate stock holdings, according to Teikoku Databank, which compiled the data.
The Nikkei stock average has gained nearly 9 percent this year.
Financial institutions have become more willing to lend, further helping firms gather capital.
Failures across all businesses including smaller nonlisted firms have also declined in 2014, dropping roughly 10 percent to some 8,500 in the 11 months through November from a year earlier.
A majority of the bankruptcies were by businesses with a workforce of 300 or less, and the number of failures attributed to the weaker yen, which raises the cost of imports, rose to a record 301, highlighting the divide between the gainers and losers of Abe's policies.
Assuming no listed companies go bust through Wednesday, there will have been no bankruptcies by such a company for 16 straight months, the second-longest period on record. The longest clean slate was 59 months from September 1986 to July 1991.