The nation's foreign currency reserves came to a record-high $361.64 billion as of the end of December, up $7.08 billion from over a month earlier, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
The reserves were up for the fourth consecutive month.
The tally of reserves -- securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, IMF special drawing rights and gold -- topped the previous record high of $354.56 billion, set in November.
The increase partly stems from the strengthening of the euro, which pushed up the value of the reserves in dollar terms, a ministry official said.
The reserves were up by about $73.5 billion from the end of December 1999.
Based on data available at the end of October, Japan was the largest holder of foreign reserves of any country or territory for the 13th straight month.
The 11-member euro zone ranked second with $262.4 billion. The zone consists of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Among other major foreign reserves holders, China had $163.1 billion at the end of September and Taiwan $113.6 billion at the end of August.