Devil Take The Hindmost by Edward Chancellor (pg. 303)

The day after the October crash, representatives of Japan’s largest brokerages–Nomura, Daiwa, Yamaichi, and Nikko Securities, collectively known as the “Big Four”–were summoned to the Ministry of Finance. They were ordered to make a market in NTT shares and keep the Nikkei above the 21,000 level. Complying with this request, the brokers offered their most important clients guarantees against losses in order to encourage them to reenter the market. Within a few months, the Nikkei had recovered its losses and was progressing to new heights. In private, Ministry of Finance officials boasted that manipulating the stock market was simpler than controlling the foreign exchanges.