Japan’s stock exchange suffered the largest share-price collapse during the 1989 burst of the Japanese asset-price bubble.
The Nikkei 225 reached an intraday peak of 38,957.44 on December 29, 1989. After the bubble burst, Japanese equities entered a long decline, and the Nikkei fell to roughly 7,054 in March 2009. This prolonged slump is often called the Lost Decades.
The bubble had been fueled by rapidly rising land and share prices, abundant credit, and optimistic expectations. The Bank of Japan tightened monetary policy in the late 1980s, helping end the speculative boom. Falling asset values then damaged banks, companies, and household balance sheets.
Japan is the answer because the question concerns the market at the center of this specific bubble. The episode is sometimes confused with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which began elsewhere and affected several economies across the region.