Japan experienced the 1990 crash after its asset-price bubble burst, beginning the period known as the Lost Decades.
During the late 1980s, Japanese stocks and real estate reached extraordinary valuations. The Nikkei 225 reached its record closing high of 38,915.87 on December 29, 1989. The Bank of Japan had tightened monetary policy, and the bubble began to deflate around 1990.
Share prices and land values fell for years. Banks were left with bad loans, companies reduced investment, and economic growth weakened. Deflation and repeated banking problems made recovery unusually slow, although Japan did not experience one uninterrupted period of economic decline.
The phrase “Lost Decades” commonly refers to the prolonged stagnation after the bubble burst, especially the 1990s and 2000s. It is sometimes used too loosely as a name for the crash itself; the crash was the initial break, while the lost decades describe the longer economic aftermath.