The 1990 Japanese asset-price collapse is associated with the nickname “Lost Decade.”
Japan’s extraordinary late-1980s boom lifted land and stock prices to levels that proved unsustainable. The Nikkei 225 peaked at the end of 1989, and asset prices then fell sharply. Banks were left with troubled loans backed by declining property, while companies and households reduced borrowing and spending.
The resulting stagnation lasted through much of the 1990s and became known as Japan’s Lost Decade. Growth was weak, deflationary pressure persisted, and financial institutions required restructuring. Some economists later used the term more broadly because Japan’s economic difficulties continued into the 2000s.
The nickname does not mean that every year contained an identical recession or that Japan stopped producing or innovating. It describes prolonged economic underperformance after the bubble burst. The Japanese episode is frequently compared with later property and credit booms because it shows how banking losses can keep an economy weak long after share prices have fallen.