What was the name of the 1989 crash in which Japan’s Nikkei 225 began a prolonged decline?

The 1989 crash in which Japan’s Nikkei 225 began a prolonged decline followed the bursting of the Japanese asset price bubble.

Japan’s stock and real-estate prices had risen dramatically during the second half of the 1980s. The Nikkei 225 reached an intraday peak of 38,957.44 on December 29, 1989. After monetary tightening and the end of speculative excess, asset prices fell, damaging banks, companies, and borrowers.

The years that followed are often called Japan’s Lost Decade, although economic weakness and deflation extended beyond the 1990s. “Lost Decade” describes the prolonged aftermath, not the name of the bubble itself. The crash also should not be confused with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which began elsewhere and had different immediate causes. Japan’s experience became a major case study in how property bubbles and banking problems can reinforce each other.