The 1989 collapse of Japan’s asset-price bubble and its long aftermath is commonly called the Lost Decades.
Japan’s stock and property prices surged during the second half of the 1980s. The Nikkei 225 reached an all-time closing high of 38,915.87 on 29 December 1989. After the bubble burst, equity and land prices fell, banks carried bad loans, and businesses and households reduced spending and borrowing.
“Lost Decades” usually describes Japan’s prolonged period of weak growth, deflationary pressure, and financial repair, especially the 1990s and 2000s. The expression is not the name of one trading day. Japan’s experience also differed from the 1929 U.S. crash: its problems centered heavily on the interaction of collapsing real-estate values, bank balance sheets, and persistent deflation. The Nikkei did not regain its 1989 closing peak until 2024.