Tokyo Parking Lot Worth More Than All of California in 1989

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Did you know that in 1989, the parking lot under Tokyo's Imperial Palace was worth more than the entire state of California? Picture this. You could sell a single parking space in Tokyo and buy a Ferrari Tessterosa. Hell, you could probably buy three of them. The Japanese real estate bubble was so insane that people were taking out 100red-year mortgages. Your great grandkids would still be paying for your apartment.

[00:00:22]Banks were literally throwing money at anyone who wanted to buy land. A tiny plot where you could barely fit a Honda Civic was selling for millions.

[00:00:31]Meanwhile, Japanese companies were buying up Pebble Beach Golf Course and Rockefeller Center like they were collecting trading cards. The entire land value of Japan exceeded the whole United States. Think about that. A country the size of Montana was supposedly worth more than America, Canada, and Mexico combined. Then in 1991, reality hit like a brick wall at 200 mph. Property values crashed 90%.

[00:00:55]Fortunes vanished overnight. People who thought they were millionaires discovered they couldn't even afford a used Corolla.