A closer look
Japanese real estate prices reached such astronomically terrifying heights during the peak of their asset bubble in 1989 that the land beneath the Tokyo Imperial Palace was theoretically worth more than the entire state of California. Office space in the Ginza district was selling for well over a million dollars per square meter, driven by banks handing out massive uncollateralized loans to literally anyone with a pulse and a business card. When the central bank finally raised interest rates to stop the madness, the bubble exploded violently, plunging the nation into a stagnant Lost Decade from which their economy has arguably never fully recovered. Modern real estate developers desperately try to ignore this terrifying historical precedent while simultaneously trying to convince young adults that paying a million dollars for a cramped studio apartment next to a noisy highway is a totally normal financial investment
