Japan experienced the 1989 stock-market crash known as the collapse of the Japanese asset-price bubble.
Japanese land and share prices rose dramatically during the second half of the 1980s. Easy credit, optimistic expectations, financial deregulation, and strong corporate investment helped push asset valuations to extraordinary levels. The Nikkei 225 reached its record closing level of 38,915.87 on December 29, 1989.
The Bank of Japan then raised interest rates, and asset prices began to fall. The decline in equities was followed by a prolonged collapse in land prices and a banking crisis. Japan’s economy entered a period often called the Lost Decades, although the exact boundaries and causes remain subjects of historical debate. This question concerns the country, not the index: the Nikkei 225 was the principal Japanese stock index associated with the bubble’s peak, but Japan is the national answer.