Japanese asset price bubble

The nihongo|Japanese asset price bubble|バブル景気|baburu keiki|lit. "bubble economy" was an economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1990, in which real estate and stock prices greatly inflated. The bubble's collapse lasted for more than a decade with stock prices bottoming in 2003.

History

In the decades following World War II, Japan implemented stringent tariffs and policies to encourage people to save their income. With more money in banks, loans and credit became easier to obtain, and with Japan running large trade surpluses, the yen appreciated against foreign currencies. This allowed local companies to invest in capital resources much more easily than their competitors overseas, which reduced the price of Japanese-made goods and widened the trade surplus further. And, with the yen appreciating, financial assets became very lucrative.

With so much money readily available for investment, speculation was inevitable, particularly in the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the real estate market. The Nikkei stock index hit its all-time high on December 29, 1989 when it reached an intra-day high of 38,957.44 before closing at 38,915.87. The rates for housing, stocks, and bonds rose so much that at one point the government issued 100-year bonds. Additionally, banks granted increasingly risky loans.

At the height of the bubble, a commonly-quoted claim was that the land beneath the Imperial Palace in Tokyo was worth more than the entire state of California. A sense of national pride and assertiveness was regained as a result of its new power, which manifested itself in works such as "The Japan That Can Say No" by Shintaro Ishihara and SONY founder Akio Morita. Many outside Japan were alarmed by this resurgence, leading to criticism from foreign observers. Michael Crichton, for example, wrote "Rising Sun" at this time, which highlighted US concerns with the growing Japanese economic power.

Prices were highest in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1989, with choice properties fetching over US$1.5 million per square meter ($139,000 per square foot). Prices were only slightly less in other areas of Tokyo. By 2004, prime "A" property in Tokyo's financial districts had slumped and Tokyo's residential homes were a fraction of their peak, but still managed to be listed as the most expensive in the world. Trillions were wiped out with the combined collapse of the Tokyo stock and real estate markets.

With the economy driven by its high rates of reinvestment, this crash hit particularly hard. Investments were increasingly directed out of the country, and manufacturing firms lost some degree of their technological edge. As Japanese products became less competitive overseas, the low consumption rate began to bear on the economy, causing a deflationary spiral. The Japanese Central Bank set interest rates at approximately absolute zero. When that failed to stop deflation some economists, such as Paul Krugman, and some Japanese politicians, spoke of deliberately causing hyperinflation. [See, as one example, Paul Krugman's website, http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/jpage.html] To this day, 2008, the Japanese Central Bank has the lowest interest rates in the developed world.

The easily obtainable credit that had helped create and engorge the real estate bubble continued to be a problem for several years to come, and as late as 1997, banks were still making loans that had a low guarantee of being repaid. Loan Officers and Investment staff had a hard time finding anything to invest in that would return a profit. They would sometimes resort to depositing their block of investment cash, as ordinary deposits, in a competing bank, which would bring howls of complaint from that bank's Loan Officers and Investment staff. Meanwhile, the extremely low interest rate offered for deposits, such as 0.1%, meant that ordinary Japanese savers were just as inclined to put their money under their beds as they were to put it in savings accounts. [Wall Street Journal. Dates to be provided later] Correcting the credit problem became even more difficult as the government began to subsidize failing banks and businesses, creating many so-called "zombie businesses". Eventually a carry trade developed in which money was borrowed from Japan, invested for returns elsewhere and then the Japanese were paid back, with a nice profit for the trader.

The time after the nihongo|bubble's collapse|崩壊|hōkai, which occurred gradually rather than catastrophically, is known as the nihongo|"lost decade or end of the century"|失われた10年|ushinawareta jūnen in Japan. The Nikkei 225 stock index eventually bottomed out at 7603.76 in April 2003 before resuming an upward climb.

In popular culture

The Japanese science fiction movie features a woman who travels back in time to just before the bubble burst, partially in an attempt to prevent it.

The price bubble also features prominently in the manga Living Game.

See also

*Economic bubble
*Housing bubble
*Lost decade
*Economic history of Japan

References

External links and sources

* Bank of Japan Whitepaper
* [http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/events/bbl/03061201.html RIETI speech transcript]
* [http://tochi.mlit.go.jp/english/6-05.pdf Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Land Price Data]