William Sposato is a Tokyo-based journalist who has been a contributor to Foreign Policy since 2015. He has been following Japan’s politics and economics for more than 20 years, working at Reuters and the Wall Street Journal. He is also the co-author of a 2021 book on the Carlos Ghosn affair and its impact on Japan.
Officers assist passengers arriving at a quarantine station at Narita airport on March 9. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on March 5 that foreign arrivals who have recently been in China or South Korea would be required to spend 14 days in quarantine.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives for a bi-lateral meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May at the United Nations Headquarters on September 20, 2016 in New York City.
South Korean protesters participate in a rally to denounce Japan's new trade restrictions on South Korea in front of the Japanese embassy on August 03, 2019 in Seoul, South Korea.
South Korean President Moon Jae-In is welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before a family photo session at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (R) listens while Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono speaks during a press conference after 2+2 meeting at the US Department of State April 19, 2019, in Washington, DC.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) offers a silent prayer during the 73rd anniversary memorial service for the atomic bomb victims at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Aug. 6, 2018. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie wave as they prepare to depart from Tokyo's Haneda airport on April 17, 2018. (Photo credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN - DECEMBER 30: Vendor try to sell his goods as japanese people prepare to celebrate the New Year at Yameyoko-cho and Uechu, the most famous and the oldest New Year Tokyo Markets, in Tokyo, Japan on December 30, 2015. (Photo by David Mareuil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
