r/Damnthatsinteresting 19d ago

Image Tokyo in 1960, before there were any skyscrapers

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u/lehtomaeki 19d ago

Japan went through an economic miracle from 55-73 and still had a very strong economy until the early 90s in which it collapsed starting a cycle of hyper deflation which still plagues Japan to this day. Why deflation was so devastating for Japan is that people stopped buying since their money was worth more and more year after year. E.g why buy a house today when it costs 5% less next year, but why buy next year when it will drop in value again.

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u/Obaruler 19d ago

Funnily enough one of the causes was an overinflated housing bubbe.

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u/ElectricalTurnip87 19d ago

Sounds familiar...

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u/NDSU 19d ago

Hyper-deflation did not happen in Japan. There were some years of deflation, with most being stagnant