Pacific Rift: Why Americans and Japanese Don't Understand Each Other

“Lewis’s take is often comic, but his message is serious. He sees Japan as it is and sums up the challenge: ‘How can our capitalism beat their capitalism?’ By keeping his eyes open and asking the right questions, this newcomer comes up with penetrating insights.” ―William J. Holstein, Business Week

In Pacific Rift, the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker aims his skewering wit at the so-called cultural clash between Japan and the United States. The result is a very different kind of book on U.S.-Japanese business relations. In search of answers, Michael Lewis hits the road to report on the travails of two businessmen: one a rollicking American insurance agent who works in Tokyo, the other a Harvard-educated Japanese man employed by Mitsui Real Estate in New York City. From the Ginza hostess bars of Tokyo to the “wine-bottle” gangs of Times Square, Lewis dramatizes tragicomic collisions between the two cultures and the basic misconceptions that Americans and Japanese have about each other.