Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the study of Eastern Asia occupied a marginal position in American education. Each crisis in the Far East, such as the Manchurian “incident” of 1931 and the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese conflict in 1937, had increased interest in China and Japan in American schools and among Americans at large, but even so the development of Far Eastern studies in the United States had been unimpressive. In general, the higher one rose in the school system of the United States the better chance one had of learning something about the peoples and cultures of Eastern Asia. In elementary and secondary schools the Far East was almost entirely overlooked; at the undergraduate level in colleges and universities there were a relatively few courses offered; in a few graduate schools it was possible to secure the M.A. or the Ph.D. with emphasis on some phase of Far Eastern studies.

Timor, or Timur, is the eighth, numbering from Sumatra, in that long line of islands called the Sunda, which contains the more familiar islands of Java and Bali. Timor is connected by many smaller islands with the Sunda chain and with the islands of Flores and New Guinea, but such connections are lacking with the Australian continent to the south. The island is long and narrow, approximately 350 miles in length and 60 miles in average width.

It is a well-known fact that the world significance of Indonesia, or the Dutch East Indies as it was formerly called, is based mainly on two factors: its geographical location and its natural resources. These factors are of vital importance today, but they have existed all along and have had a profound influence on the shaping of the Indonesian past. Naturally, their relative importance did not remain constant throughout the centuries, and it is the very interplay between these two controlling elements which helps to explain or clarify some of the actual events, crises, and changes in the history of the archipelago. In fact, a careful study of that interplay might lead to a new periodization of Indonesian history, which would serve to supplement the traditional division according to the dominant cultural influence.

The new Chinese constitution which was almost unanimously adopted by the National Assembly and presented to Chiang K'ai-shek on Christmas Day 1946 gives conclusive proof that the Chinese plan to maintain their ancient Censoral system, now the Control Yüan of the Chinese government. A clue to the importance which the Chinese attach to this body is found in the fact that although the new constitution has abandoned the complete separation and independence of the five powers (legislative, executive, judicial, examination, and control) as visualized by Sun Yat-sen, the Control Yüan remains as one of the completely independent and elected bodies in the future Chinese government.

On November 4, 1946, representatives of the United States and China signed a five-year “Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation” at Nanking. Negotiation of this pact within six months of the cessation of hostilities had been called for by the treaty of January 11, 1943, under which the United States relinquished extraterritorial rights in China. The new treaty should thus have occasioned no surprise since it was intended merely as a routine instrument for facilitating commercial relations between the two countries.

The characteristic feature of Japanese warfare, prior to the introduction of firearms in 1543, was the use of swords and spears in hand-to-hand fighting. Armies were made up of small, independent bands of soldiers who fought more as individuals than as units of a tactical formation, and naval units consisted of fishing vessels that were commandeered for transporting armies within bow-range or sword-reach of the enemy. Thus, all battles, whether on land or at sea, were little more than “monster fencing matches.” But the introduction of the Portuguese arquebus and the subsequent widespread manufacture of firearms soon led to radical developments in military techniques.

The Life and thoughts of every subject of the Emperor of Japan have been guided at every point by an incredibly meticulous officialdom. Accepted as a truism in Occidental discussions, this miracle has escaped critical analysis. That aspect of Japanese governance which through sumptuary laws and minatory regulations grinds so exceedingly small that everything in the life of the individual conforms to authoritative patterns merits detailed analysis.

During the war of 1941–1945, with a minimum transfer of effective authority to local governments, the Imperial Government was able so completely to control its subjects that the pull of a string in Tokyo produced a response from any one or all of the 73 million rippana nihonjin from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The degree to which the wartime controls of the Japanese Government were efficient and effective was due in part to the psychological homogeneity of the Japanese people. To no lesser extent was it due to the centralized nature of Japanese government, to those institutions and techniques peculiar to Japanese life which have tended to concentrate authority in the central government.

Until 1945, the Japanese nation had never suffered a really major defeat. Humiliations, actual as well as imaginary, had been imposed, but never outright and final loss of a war, never invasion and occupation since the descent of the Yamato people themselves from the high plain of heaven. Her remoteness in fact, and in the calculation of her leaders, her unique polity under the rule of a dynasty established for ages eternal in the minds of her people had saved Japan on each previous threatening occasion. But this time there was no escape. Japan lost the war, and all Japanese know that she lost. Just as, at an earlier date, the country provided a unique laboratory for the student of social stability and of cultural integration–a much neglected laboratory, unfortunately–so, now Japan offers the opportunity for a study of society under the most extreme forms of stress. What have been the effects of war, of catas-trophically losing war, upon Japanese society?

Of the Many places on this globe that were touched by the withering blast of war, I doubt if in any the life of the people has been more completely changed than on Okinawa. This long, irregularly shaped island is just less than half the size of Rhode Island. In 1940 the population (435,681) was about the same as that of Newark, New Jersey. Its subtropical climate has a mean annual temperature of about 72° F. The humidity is excessive, and the rainfall is about 83 inches per year. Of the twelve to forty-five typhoons which affect it from May to October, three to six pass directly over it, usually causing widespread damage because they coincide with the growing season. Vegetation is generally dense and hard to penetrate. Pines abound on the forested hillsides, and thickets of pandanus, the leaves of which are used in various native handicrafts, are not infrequent. Wild life consists mainly of deer and wild pigs; rats, mice, and five species of deadly venomous snakes are also found, and mosquitoes, lice, fleas, and other insect pests abound. Its mineral deposits are of little consequence, but abundant limestone, sand, and gravel supply valuable construction materials. The northernmost section of Okinawa has a central high ridge with peaks ranging up to 1,650 feet. The slopes are very steep and cut by a maze of ravines. The central section is a ruggedly hilly plateau ranging up to 500 feet. The southern section is characterized by small plains and rolling hills.' Here the largest cities are found as well as most of the population and modern facilities.

One of the most noteworthy incidents in the history of Japan's transition from a feudal regime to a modern state was the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877. The province of Satsuma is situated in the southernmost portion of the island of Kyushu, and Kagoshima is the capital city. The Daimyo of Satsuma was one of the most powerful and aggressive of the feudal lords ruling the country at the time Japan was opened to foreign intercourse. He and his warlike samurai took a leading part in the events which saw the decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor.

It Has been pointed out often enough in recent years that we moderns are dependent at every turn upon goods brought to us from the ends of the world. Some one once took the trouble to count up the number of countries that make their contribution to the typical American breakfast. The total was an amazing one.

But what if one were to attempt to analyze the sources of the ideas and attitudes which are common among us? Would he not find there also the flowing together of a vast variety of influences from widely diversified sources? What the social scientists call interpenetration of cultures is always going on, when diverse cultures come into any kind of contact, and contact of the most distantly separated peoples has become easily possible in recent years through the rapid shrinking of our world.

Until June 26, 1946, the ihabitants of the State of North Borneo could claim the distinction of being the only population in the world still, subject to chartered company rule. On that date an area of nearly 30,000 square miles inhabited by over 300,000 people ceased to be governed by the British North Borneo Chartered Company and became a British Crown Colony. Not only was the British North Borneo Chartered Company the last of the chartered companies to survive, but it was distinct in character from its predecessors. It is the purpose of this article to describe within the limits of available information the unique political and economic pattern developed by the Company in North Borneo.

When George Coedes writes a book on Southeast Asia, it is an event in the history of that region; for, in a lifetime spent in Indochina, he has come to be considered as one of the all-time authorities on that part of the world. His connection with l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient has covered more than 40 years, and in his capacity as epigraphist it has been his task to decipher and translate the inscriptions of Champa and Cambodia — Sanskrit, Cham, Khmer, and Pali — and to fix the place of each in history; which inscriptions he has published, generally in the Bulletin of that institution under the title of “Etudes Cambodgiennes,” but also in other journals and in collections. During the twelve years (1918–30) when he was loaned to Siam as Secretary of the National Institute, in charge of the National Library and Museum, he collected, translated, and published the inscriptions of Siam— in Siamese, Tai, Mon, Khmer, Sanskrit, and Pali — and translated and edited important chronicles and other historical documents. He organized and classified the National Museum and founded there the Dvāravatī and Srivijaya Schools of Art. Nor has all his attention been given to French Indochina and Siam. One of his earliest tasks was to collect and publish the references to the Far East in the texts of Greek and Latin authors. While at Bangkok, he translated the inscriptions in Old Malay found within the former kingdom of Srivijaya and wrote several articles on that kingdom.

The present survey was carried on in 1947 by the American Institute of Pacific Relations at the request and with the co-operation of faculty members and research workers in a number of American institutions of learning. It differs from similar previous efforts both in scope and in organization. As the title indicates, it is limited to the countries usually included in the regional term “the Far East,” Southeast Asia, India and Ceylon, and the islands of the Western Pacific. Studies of subjects relating to other areas are included only if they concern relations with any part of the region primarily covered and, when this is the case, are usually listed under the geographical portion of that region to which they refer.

This monograph is very well written and gives a fairly comprehensive picture of conditions during the period covered. Materials used are original, informative, and exhaustive; although the materials are entirely Chinese in origin, as is made clear in the preface, the author also has used writings in English, French, and Japanese when necessary for comparison and evaluation; description is clear and critical; chapters are well divided and in good proportion. The Western Regions are described as covering the areas from Yumen and Yangkuan to the highland of Iran. Relations between China and India of this period are not mentioned. Apart from tiie preface, a brief description of each of the book's eight chapters is as follows: