ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Japanese asset price bubble

A Japanese asset price bubble was a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when prices of stocks, real estate, and other assets in Japan were much higher than they should have been. It was caused by investors buying more of these assets than they should have, driving up the price. Unfortunately, when the bubble popped and the prices went back to normal, many of the investors had lost a lot of money.