The Japanese bubble — when Tokyo was worth all of America

In the late 1980s, stock and land prices in Japan soared dizzyingly. It was said the land under Tokyo's Imperial Palace was worth as much as the entire state of California.

The lost decade

The bubble burst in 1990. A "lost decade" (actually several) of economic stagnation followed, from which Japan recovered slowly. Even a strong economy can be brought down for years by a huge bubble.