Japan experienced the 1990 stock-market crash after its enormous late-1980s asset-price bubble burst.
Japanese share and land prices had risen rapidly during the 1980s, supported by easy credit, speculation, and strong optimism about the country’s economy. The Nikkei 225 reached its historic closing peak on December 29, 1989, and then began a long decline. The crash was followed by falling property values, banking problems, weak growth, and persistent deflation.
Japan’s subsequent economic stagnation is commonly called the Lost Decades, although the term can refer to more than one decade. The market decline was not a single day of worldwide panic like Black Monday in 1987. Instead, it marked the beginning of a prolonged unwinding of financial and real-estate excesses. Japan remains a frequent comparison in discussions of asset bubbles because its experience shows how damage from falling property prices can persist even after emergency measures are introduced.