author

 
 

Meta

William Pesek
For William Pesek's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 22, 2017
Tokyo needs distance from Trump train wreck
It's time for those in Trump's orbit — including Prime Minister Abe — to assess how much they'll be diminished by association and do some crisis management.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2017
The Democratic Party's existential crisis
To retake the reins of power, the DP must be ready to offer voters a genuine alternative of the kind Japan hasn't seen in decades.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 7, 2017
The LDP's tobacco addiction tells a much bigger story
If Prime Minister Abe and his party were less beholden to vested interests, his efforts to defeat deflation would gain more traction.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 31, 2017
How Japan can get Pyongyang's attention
Japan can send China a wake-up call on North Korea by hosting a series of THAAD missile defense system.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 21, 2017
Championing TPP 2.0 could give Abe his global moment
To save his political hide, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should do something arguably no Japanese leader has done in decades: project strength and leadership abroad.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 11, 2017
Hosting the Olympics won't raise Japan's economic game
As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's team details plans to revive growth and increase competitiveness, four numbers keep coming up: 2020.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 27, 2017
What Japan Inc. should learn from Takata
Now, as Tokyo sorts out the biggest failure in postwar Japanese manufacturing, it's all too possible its political and corporate cultures will learn little from 'Takatagate.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 21, 2017
Which members of the Abe Cabinet deserve to be fired?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has multiple reasons to pick this moment for a Cabinet reshuffle.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 13, 2017
Why Japan's poor media grade matters
Japan has a media problem, and it's holding back the economy and undermining Abe's goal of raising Tokyo's global status.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2017
Abe's clean energy opportunity
By supporting new generations of renewable-energy startups Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could create the millions of high-paying jobs that have eluded his Abenomics push.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2017
Trump can learn from Japan's 1986 problem
U.S. President Donald Trump's ignorance of the lessons of Japan's economic travails over the past three decasdes could lead him to make costly policy errors.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 23, 2017
For Shinzo Abe, an epic buyer's remorse
There's still time for the prime minister to distance himself from a White House in flames
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 22, 2017
Japan's weak yen could trigger a trade war
All bets may be off if Trump labels Tokyo a currency manipulator, a move that may force Abe's hand on reform.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2017
BOJ tapering fears overdone
Ultra-loose policy is the glue holding the economy together, but arguably the BOJ should be even bolder.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2017
A U.S.-China currency deal can avert trade war
A new Plaza Accord can benefit both the U.S. and China, and deliver Trump his first foreign policy victory.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2017
Abe's nationalism hurts Japan
Shinzo Abe spends too much time thinking about 1940 rather than making Japan great again in 2040.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2017
Asia's flashpoints a trigger for market chaos
The South China Sea and North Korea loom as black swan events amid rising tensions in Asia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 24, 2017
Lessons Japan Inc. must learn from Ghosn
The CEO who revived an ailing Nissan showed an insular, change-averse Japan Inc. that there is another way.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 16, 2017
Toshiba underlines why Abenomics is failing
Toshiba is the poster child for how little headway the government has made in modernizing corporate governance practices.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2017
China's billionaires should watch their backs
Chinese President Xi Jinping's plans to rebalance the economy is threatened by the close ties between officials and big money.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores