After World War II, Japan's economy grew rapidly. By the 70s, the Japanese economy had further stabilized. At the same time, the developed countries in Europe and the United States have fallen into economic stagnation due to various reasons such as long-term excessive government intervention in the economy, inefficient state-owned welfare systems, and the oil crisis. In the world, Japan's economy is one of the most prosperous. Industrial products made in Japan are sold all over the world. The United States has almost nothing to dod. The auto industry, in particular, has suffered heavy losses, and the Japanese are to blame for their job losses and declining wages in the minds of American auto workers.

Trade frictions between Japan and the United States began in the 60s of the 20th century, initially caused by trade in textiles, steel, and televisions. By the 80s, the trade dispute had intensified further. In order to weaken the competitiveness of Japan's industrial exports, the U.S. government began to exert pressure on Japan, and the Japanese government, which lacked real autonomy, was forced to compromise. As a result, in September 1985, the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany and France signed the famous "Plaza Accord" to promote the depreciation of the US dollar by jointly intervening in the foreign exchange market, and the corresponding yen began to enter the appreciation channel. In the years following the Plaza Accord, the value of the yen almost tripled.

The appreciation of the yen has affected Japan's ability to export industrial products considerably, but it has also made the Japanese richer than ever before. They can exchange their yen for more dollars. As a result of this situation, American assets suddenly became much cheaper in the eyes of the Japanese. Things that used to be unaffordable to the Japanese now seem to be readily available.

As a result, Japanese people with large handfuls of dollars in their hands began to pour into the United States. Americans are happy that ordinary Japanese people just buy goods in places like Hawaii that can boost the U.S. economy, but what disturbs Americans is the massive acquisition of U.S. corporate assets. These Japanese wielding checkbooks seemed to be completely dismissive of the price, and it seemed that they could buy the whole of the United States, and some even thought, "The United States is becoming the forty-first prefecture of Japan."

By 1989, Japanese purchases of U.S. assets had reached their peak. In June of that year, Sony announced that it had successfully purchased Columbia Pictures, the giant of the American entertainment industry and one of the symbols of American culture, for $3.4 billion. The move is part of Sony's strategic move to shift from manufacturing to entertainment. Previously, Mitsubishi had already purchased an even more important national symbol of the United States, the Rockefeller Center, for $1.4 billion. This great building, which represented the heyday of American capitalism, now belongs to the Japanese.

In Los Angeles, the Japanese own almost half of the real estate in the downtown area; In Hawaii, where more than 96 percent of foreign investment comes from Japan, a place that was not lost in Pearl Harbor and has almost completely fallen under the sea of Japanese checks. From 1985 to 1990, Japanese companies engaged in a total of 21 mega overseas acquisitions of more than 50 billion yen, 18 of which were for U.S. companies. By the end of the '80s, 10% of all real estate in the United States was in the pockets of Japanese people.

Seeing that many influential large companies and industries in the country have turned to be bossed by the Japanese, American public opinion exclaimed that this was simply Japan's second invasion of the United States, and some Americans even laughed at themselves and said: "Maybe the news will come at some time that the Japanese have bought the Statue of Liberty." ”

On the Japanese side, self-esteem is greatly satisfied. Many Japanese people are complacent about their crazy purchases around the world. Japan, which for many years has been subservient to the United States, seems to see itself on the promise of surpassing the United States and becoming the world's number one power. This novel experience is very good, and the Japanese are very beautiful for a while.

Since 1986, with the steady trend of the Japanese economy, driven by the automobile, electronics, integrated circuits and other industries, the strength has gradually increased, and thus began a four-year-long "Heisei boom". After entering the "Heisei boom", the Nikkei Stock Average continued to rise from 12,000 points in 1985, and even took the lead in "resurrection" after the stock market crash that affected the world in 1987, thus driving the recovery of the global stock market. Since then, the stock price has been rising strongly. For this reason, people in the Japanese economic theorists have come up with a positive analysis, holding that the strong momentum of Japan's economic growth is the main reason for the sharp rise in the Japanese stock market, while some people in the securities industry are optimistic about the 50,000-point mark.

On December 19, 1989, Japan's Nikkei index hit a new high, reaching 38,915 points, up more than three times from the lowest point in 1985, and the market value of Japanese stocks was as high as 630 trillion yen, 1.6 times the GNP of that year.

……

There was no light on in the room, and in the darkness, Yuko Nagai sat in front of the dresser in a daze, constantly recalling the past in her head. Since making money from stock investment two years ago, Yuko has left Kyoto and come to Tokyo, where she has longed for a long time, and found a decent job. After working hard for more than a year, Yuko bought a high-end apartment in Roppongi, Tokyo in installments, and her life is getting better and better. However, Yuko was not satisfied with this, and under the encouragement of the so-called investment gurus on TV, coupled with her own experience of investing and making money, Yuko thought that the stock market was a place where she could make money without losing money, so she made a risky decision to borrow 40 million yen from a loan shark as collateral from her apartment in an attempt to speculate in the stock market. Yuko believes that the Nikkei index will rise, because experts say so, and there are even many people who are optimistic about the 50,000-point mark, so as soon as she got the money after the New Year, Yuko bought a lot of contracts on the exchange for the Nikkei index to rise, which is the most profitable method recommended by experts.

After buying the contract, Yuko was looking forward to good news every day, and her mood also fluctuated with the fluctuations of the index, and the time passed day by day, and the Nikkei index did not go as Yuko wanted, and after a few days of small fluctuations, it suddenly began to dive downward, and Yuko's heart became colder and colder. A few weeks have passed, the Nikkei index is still falling every day, and Yuko's money in the stock market has also been lost due to forced liquidation, and her heart has been completely cold......

Through the faint light coming from the window, Yuko looked at herself in the mirror, her original delicate face was no longer what it looked like, she turned on the small lamp on the dresser, took out the makeup tools from the drawer, and carefully repaired them. Yuko had a hard time during this time, and she was either a bank reminder notice or a loan shark who came to her door to ask for debts, and even lost her job because of it. Just tonight, Yuko took great pains to send two loan sharks who came to the door to ask for debts, and for this they left indelible scars on her body. Tomorrow is the last day of payment, and Yuko has tried many methods, but unfortunately none of them worked, and now she is completely desperate.

From the balcony came a men's vicious roar, a woman's cry of sorrow, and a burst of fleshly contact crackling, Yuko knew that it was Oda next door who was beating his wife again, originally Oda was also a gentle man, but a few weeks ago he also became a beast, drunk all day long, and as soon as he got home, he was angry with his wife. In the midst of this cold snap, I don't know how many people have completed the transformation from humans to beasts.

After applying her makeup, Yuko took out a favorite set of clothes to change into, then took out a bottle of wine from the refrigerator, turned off the small light on the dresser, and turned around to walk outside. As she left the bedroom, Yuko glanced at her large bed, which used to have many warm memories, but now it was extremely disgusting because of the two ugly men lying on it. With a cold snort, Yuko walked out of the apartment, and the moment the door closed, some red liquid slowly flowed down the fabric on the bed.

In the early hours of the morning, the cold air on the rooftop hits, and Yuko sits on the railing of the rooftop, drinking wine while looking ahead with empty eyes. Before she knew it, a bottle of wine was finished, and Yuko casually put the bottle on the railing, then staggered to her feet and walked a few steps east along the railing. The sky was faintly bright, and a long, narrow dark red ribbon hung in the distance, and above the ribbon was a large pale blue cold morning light. As time passed, the long dark red bands slowly expanded, and the colors became brighter and brighter, slowly changing from dark red clouds to a golden coast, and a red sun rose from the east.

Basking in the early morning sun, Yuko felt as if her body was warmer, like a mother's embrace in her memory. With her hands outstretched, Yuko's body slowly leaned forward, and then with a slight leap, her whole body seemed to melt into the air. Yuko closed her eyes and muttered, "Mommy......", and a tear went away with the wind.

……

Today is not yet the time to collect the troops, but after Zhang Lexing came to see the ups and downs for himself, it is time to go back. Maybe he was too excited, Zhang Lexing woke up early, poured himself a glass of water, and sat on the sofa in the living room to savor it slowly. A commotion came from the open window, Zhang Lexing put down the water glass, came to the window and looked out.

Two police cars and an ambulance were parked downstairs in the apartment opposite, and several police officers were setting up a cordon, and two men were carrying a human body onto a stretcher on a large red ground, while many people were watching outside the cordon, apparently someone had committed suicide. This kind of thing is happening almost every day now, and there are even reports in the newspapers that a family committed suicide because they were bankrupt and turned on the gas en masse. Zhang Lexing closed the window with his hand, and the noisy sound disappeared, and the inside and outside of the room seemed to be two worlds.

……

With the move of Goldman Sachs in the United States, the bearish atmosphere of the global financial community on the Japanese stock market has become more and more serious, and the Nikkei index has begun to fall across the board. In April 1990, in order to curb increasingly serious speculation, the Ministry of Finance began to impose severe restrictions on the real estate industry. The decline in land prices has reduced the actual asset value of enterprises, which has contributed to the decline in stock prices. Falling stock prices and land prices have weakened the sources of growth for Japanese companies, while higher borrowing rates have led to higher costs and a significant constraint on the ability of Japanese companies to increase revenues. The gloomy outlook for corporate earnings has cast a shadow over investors' psychology and expectations have deteriorated. Investments were reduced, stocks were sold, further panic was caused, and prices were scrambling to drive prices down, and the Great Bear Market came.

On April 2, 1990, the Nikkei Stock Average plummeted to 28,002.07 points, down 28.05% from its peak at the end of 1989, and on October 1, 1990, it fell again to 20,221.86 points, and the total market capitalization of the stock market disappeared by more than 270 trillion yen. The decline in stocks also caused panic in the domestic bond market, and the funds from the sale of stocks and bonds quickly flowed overseas, and the Japanese financial market was in turmoil with a triple depreciation of stocks, bonds, and the yen.

In the fall of 1990, real estate also began to plummet. Japan's real estate industry, which once had a high level of real estate in Tokyo, where the total value of real estate in one area of Tokyo exceeded the total value of real estate in the United States at its peak, has finally begun to decline.

Dragged down by the stock market and housing prices, Japan's economy seems to have gone back a decade, and countless Japanese who have dreamed of success and have already succeeded suddenly find that their once proud wealth has disappeared like a floating cloud, leaving only mourning everywhere.

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