Which stock exchange was at the center of the 1989 Japanese asset-price crash?

The Tokyo Stock Exchange was at the center of Japan’s 1989 asset-price crash.

Japan’s asset-price bubble expanded during the second half of the 1980s, when land and share prices rose dramatically. The Nikkei 225 reached its historical intraday peak of 38,957.44 on December 29, 1989. After the bubble burst, stock and property values fell for years.

The decline was connected to tighter monetary policy, excessive lending, and highly optimistic expectations. Japan’s banking system carried large quantities of loans backed by assets whose values were collapsing. The resulting weakness contributed to a prolonged period often called the Lost Decades.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is sometimes confused with the Nikkei 225. The exchange is the marketplace; the Nikkei is a stock-market index tracking 225 major companies. Japan’s crash therefore describes both an exchange-wide collapse and the index’s long decline.