Financial crisis in Japan after the burst of the bubble  During Japan’s financial crisis, while real estate prices varied according to the region and the usage, the representative index plunged to almost a quarter of its peak. Banks played a predominant role in financial intermediation, and Japanese banks incurred cumulative losses of some 110 trillion yen, equivalent to 20 percent of Japan's GDP.
It was after 2003 that Japanese banks’ capital strength and profitability bottomed out and the stability and functioning of the financial system started to improve, when Japan’s economy returned to a full-fledged recovery path supported by the global economic growth. In the meantime, the average growth of Japan’s economy had been stagnant, compared with the previous decades.