Japan's asset-price bubble reached its stock-market peak on December 29, 1989, marking the beginning of the collapse commonly associated with the Japanese stock-market crash.
On that date, the Nikkei 225 reached an intraday record of 38,957.44. It then entered a prolonged decline as inflated property and share valuations unwound. The bubble had been fueled by easy credit, strong asset speculation, and rapidly rising land prices during the 1980s.
The collapse did not produce a brief single-day event like Black Monday. Instead, it developed into a long financial and economic downturn. Japan's banking system carried large amounts of bad debt, and the country experienced weak growth and deflation during what became known as the Lost Decades. The date is therefore a peak-and-turning-point date, not the date of the final market low.