Japan experienced the 1989 crash of stock and property markets known as the Japanese asset-price bubble.
Japan’s bubble expanded during the second half of the 1980s. Stock prices and urban land values rose rapidly, supported by abundant credit, speculative buying, and expectations that prices would continue increasing. The Nikkei 225 reached its historic closing peak on 29 December 1989.
The bubble then deflated. Falling asset values weakened banks, businesses, and households, especially because financial institutions held loans secured by property that was losing value. The resulting economic stagnation extended through the 1990s and beyond, producing the expression “Lost Decades.”
Japan’s episode is sometimes grouped with ordinary stock-market crashes, but it was broader than a single exchange collapse. It involved intertwined equity, real-estate, banking, and macroeconomic problems. Japan remains the country most directly associated with this particular asset-price-bubble crash.