William Pesek - The Japan Times

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William Pesek

For William Pesek's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY

Dec 27, 2013

Abe and Xi swam naked with Buffett in 2013

In Japan and South Korea this year, talk of epochal change from two newish leaders was shown to be empty. Meanwhile, China's supposedly peaceful rise was laid bare by aggressive actions.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 24, 2013

WikiLeaks reveals why Asia should skip the TPP

You know the U.S. has a transparency problem when people need to rely on WikiLeaks for details on changes to proposed rules on Internet use, labor and environmental and food-safety standards of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 17, 2013

China's problem with Kim Jong Un

Last week's dramatic execution of Kim Jong Un's uncle — the China-friendly Jang Song Thaek — should prompt Chinese President Xi Jinping to all he can to rein in the vindictive, unpredictable Kim.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 10, 2013

Joe Biden asked the right question about women in Japan's workforce

The real disgrace isn't U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's 'gaffe,' but how little is changing for Japanese women even under a prime minister who has pledged to empower them as never before.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 3, 2013

Japan's secrets bill turns journalists into terrorists

The Japanese public supports Prime Ministe Shinzo Abe's bid to defeat deflation and stand up to China, but it's not with him on the secrecy bill.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 2, 2013

China dons provocateur suit

However powerful President Xi Jinping might have become, China's declaration of a vast air-defense identification zone does not add to its store of 'soft power.'

WORLD

Nov 23, 2013

Japan's yakuza woes return to the silver screen

Hollywood has long fetishized Japanese gangsters, with their full-body tattoos, missing pinkies and harems of buxom groupies. Ever since Sydney Pollack's "The Yakuza" in 1974, the colorful mafiosi have provided regular fodder for directors including Ridley Scott and Quentin Tarantino.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2013

China's billionaire problem remains in Xi Jinping's way

Chinese President Xi Jinping's economic program so far is looking all too much like 'Abenomics.'

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2013

China may long regret miserly typhoon aid offer

China's stingy donation to the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan dramatically undercut its recent regional charm offensive.

COMMENTARY

Nov 15, 2013

Mentor Koizumi shows protege Abe how to reboot

By lending his popularity to the anti-nuclear chorus and exciting the public about a pro-growth energy future, Junichiro Koizumi isn't just counseling a better way. He's offering his protege Shinzo Abe an invitation into the pantheon of true Japanese reformers.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 12, 2013

Thailand must overcome obsession with Thaksin

It's frustrating to think where Thailand — Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy — might be today had the nation not squandered the last seven years on all things Thaksin.

BUSINESS

Nov 9, 2013

China should pave the way for its own Steve Jobs

As Communist Party leaders begin a four-day retreat to decide where to take China's economy, they would be wise to think about Steve Jobs. Their country's economic well-being may be at risk if they don't.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 8, 2013

China must kick costly coal addiction

Thanks to extreme air pollution, foreign arrivals to China plunged by roughly 50 percent in the first three-quarters of the year. Beijing must kick its costly addiction to coal.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Nov 5, 2013

Abe copies China's playbook on protecting state secrets

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is so obsessed with China eclipsing Japan on the global stage that he's adopting some of his neighbor's policies with regard to the protection of 'secrets.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Nov 2, 2013

China mimics worst of 'Abenomics' at worst time

If imitation really is the greatest form of flattery, Shinzo Abe should be thrilled the Chinese are copying his "Abenomics" strategy to excite investors. The rest of the world shouldn't be. China isn't cribbing the prime minister's actual blueprint, but his formula of spin and hype that has convinced the world something that doesn't yet exist is real. The key to a great ad campaign is attracting customers and keeping them, something Abe has done with a brilliance that could teach the Edelman public relations firm a thing or two.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 29, 2013

The lust beneath Japan's sex drought

It's not a lack of libido but a dearth of denaro and future employment propsects that is putting young Japanese off long-term relationships, says a business columnist.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Oct 13, 2013

Straitjacket Japan could use more brawling billionaires to lead the way

Japan is being treated to a juicy spectacle as two of its richest and most innovative entrepreneurs brawl in public over Internet market share and visions for the future. But what's most important about the fight between Masayoshi Son and Hiroshi Mikitani is the example it's setting.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 9, 2013

Asia faces a crisis of leadership as growth fades

It has taken five years, but the fallout from what Asians call the 'Lehman shock' is finally hitting gross domestic product and living standards.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 3, 2013

A taxing challenge to revival

As Shinzo Abe goes ahead with a sales-tax increase aimed at getting a handle on Japan's huge debt burden, he risks killing Japan's best chance for an economic recovery.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Sep 29, 2013

Abe's overture to Wall Street lost in translation

Something was definitely lost in translation when Shinzo Abe spoke in New York on Thursday. First, Japan's self-described reformist prime minister raised the specter of Gordon Gekko, the greed-is-good villain of Oliver Stone's 1987 film "Wall Street." Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange no less, a place that's been trying to weed out insider traders since the 1980s, Abe declared without irony: "Today, I have come to tell you that Japan will once again be a country where there is money to be made, and that just as Gordon Gekko made a comeback in the financial world . . . so too can we now say that Japan is back."

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

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