• First, visit Hamilton Library's Asia reference page.

• Then use the Asian Studies WWW VL Search Engines.

• And enter the Portal to Asian Internet Resources.

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• Developed by the Asia Society, Asia Source digests international news stories, providing an array of bibliographies.

• And from The Asia Foundation, In Asia provides regular short reports on developments in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong S.A.R, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam. Internal links include URLs for archives and for country experts.

• The Bibliography of Asian Studies includes citations to articles and reports on 32 Asian countries. If you are not a University of Hawai‘i student, staff person or faculty member, try accessing this resource through the website of the library at your institution.

• The Asian Studies Toolbar has the following features:

• a links directory of web pages.
• a stack of rss feeds for Asian newspapers.
• a second rss stack for blogs on the Asian Studies topics.
• a radio player with internet radio and podcasts together with the usual the usual Conduit toolbar features, including multi-email notifier (very useful), local weather, and multiple search options.
• All Conduit toolbars can be further customized by using a drop down menu.

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• Do you need basic political, demographic and geographic data for countries in Asia? Detailed World Factbook country files from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency are usually up-to-date.

• The Library of Congress Country Studies' country profiles for many countries in Asia are brief but useful for some purposes.

• The basic law of official governments in Asia and elsewhere is usually called a "constitution." Access constitutions of countries in Asia.

• Consult APSA-CD. This is the Newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics. Back issues from 1990 onwards are archived online.

• Foreign Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region is a database of news articles and government documents.

• Asia-Pacific News.Net is updated every 15 minutes with an array of newsfeeds and newslinks.

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• Check out the Gendering Asia Network.

• The Hong Kong-based daily Asia Times Online may be read in English or Chinese.

• Use 200 Worldmapper thematic maps to compare Asian countries in many different ways.

• The Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia provides examples of the diffusion of religious ideas and practices.

• Also, visit the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World. Below, country sections of this web page will link you to additional Islam-related websites.

• The Voice of America publishes current Asian and other news from a viewpoint consistent with U.S Government objectives.

• To locate an Asian studies specialist, do a Quick Search on Access Asia's Specialist Database. Sponsored by The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), it also links you to 300 governmental, corporate and academic policy research institutes. Another NBR program is Strategic Asia which describes itself as a "source of information and analysis for the policymaking community, media, the business sector, and academe."

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• In addition to China and Japan, what other governments in Asia have ranked among the top 15 military spenders in the world since the late 1980s? Depending on whether military expenditures are measured in market exchange rate or purchasing power parity dollar terms, country rankings vary from year to year.

• Asia Watch focuses on human rights issues.

• Unlike research paid for by government-oriented think tanks, the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (now Critical Asian Studies) was initiated to offset academic-military collusion. After clicking that link, scroll down to click on the link for "BACK ISSUES -- Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars."

• ResearchSEA - Asia Research News brings you reports on science, technology, medicine, business, culture, people, and the latest news.

• For a series of summaries of twentieth-century Asian nationalist and communist social movements, see also Asian nationalisms, social revolutions by Vincent K. Pollard.

• Beginning in 2003, the Asia Research Institute (National University of Singapore) has published Working Papers on a variety of topics in politics, economics, social and international history, sociology, geography, public health, globalization, migration, media, and public policy. Full texts are downloadable.

• Dating back to 1993, reports, book reviews, discussion and debate in H-Asia (Asian history and culture) and H-DIPLO (diplomatic history) are archived and searchable.

• Asia-Studies Full-text online is "the exclusive licensee for many of the region's most exclusive research institutions" from 53 countries.

• See Professor Lynn T. Whyte's clickable list of websites for "China and Southeast Asia Researchers" giving access to thousands of articles.

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• CNN World News may be read in Korean, Japanese and English.

• Nikkei Net Interactive provides comprehensive Asian business news.

• The Nautilus Institute (San Francisco and Melbourne) publishes research on Northeast Asia peace and security issues. This site includes reports from Fudan University's American Studies Institute and its jointly convened Shanghai collaborative research and dialogue workshops on East Asian Regional Security Futures.

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• The Korea Herald reports on current events affecting the two Koreas.

• Also, to retrieve reports on events from 1999 onwards, search the Korea Herald digital archives.

• Compare coverage of North Korean Affairs by a New Zealand website with current and archived reports from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (in English and Korean).

• The North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP) "serves as an informational clearinghouse on North Korea for both the scholarly and policymaking communities by widely disseminating newly declassified documents on the DPRK from its former communist allies as well as other resources that provide valuable insight into the actions and nature of the North Korean state."

• Listen to Korean Pop Music.

• Or read Korea Google News (in Korean).

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Source: Center for Japanese Studies,
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

• Hamilton Library offers specialized Japan resources.

• Try Japan Politics Information Central for basics, bibliography and other links.

• Mainichi Daily News archives begin on August 2000.

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• The Asahi Shimbun reports on Japanese politics. So, too, does The Japan Times Online. Web editions of both newspapers — in Japanese and English editions — are archived back to 1999.

• Another 100 Japanese newspapers are online in Japanese and English.

• Japan Google News (in Japanese).

• For photographs, search the Mainichi Photo Bank (in Japanese).

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• The Prime Minister's bilingual website takes you to government ministries. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes news bulletins.

• And visit the National Diet Library for documents from Japan's bicameral legislature. Or search Japanese Law Links.

• Learn the rules and the results of internal contests for leadership in the (usually) ruling Liberal Democratic Party primary elections (in Japanese).

• Try the Japan Web Navigator, the Statistics Bureau, and other national and local Japanese-language government websites.

• Japan Considered provides links to Japan Government "meta-sites," as well as to podcasts and interviews on Japanese politics. This website is a project of the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina.

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• Take a look at 2,600 political posters curated by the Ohara Institute for Social Research. This collection predates the end of World War II in 1945.

• And view a slide show of 1,400 posters from labor and other social movements in post-1945 Japan.

• And visit the Takazawa collection of leaflets, journals, photographs and other ephemera from the Japanese Left and other social movements.

• Defend the Japan Peace Constitution is organized by the League of Japanese Citizens in the U.S. The purpose is to defend Article 9 of Japan's Constitution from militarist amendments. This website is in Japanese and English.

• Ainu Pride & Ainu Rebels is the website of "a group of young Ainu in the Tokyo area, formed in Summer of 2006" and led by one of their colleagues Mina. According to Ainu Pride, "We are doing our best to 'have fun' and 'be cool' while spreading Ainu culture throughout the world!! We chose the name 'REBELS' with the hope of creating change — to transform our society into one where Ainu people can be proud to be Ainu."

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• Edited by the monthly journal Sekai and the Peace Research Institute of International Christian University, Japan in the World criticizes Japanese politics, economy, society and culture.

• Ed-Eyes on the Web is linked to Japanese-language news on education, human rights, the environment, international understanding, gender and community.

• Despite losing support from the U.S. Congress, the Japan Documentation Center (1992-2000) maintains a searchable database for accessing materials in commerce and industry, law, politics, environment and sociology.

• Since the mid-1990s, Social Science Japan Forum has featured expert discussion all aspects of Japanese politics. And for earlier discussion logs, access its SSJ-Forum Archive.

• See also Japan Focus.

• In April 2007, The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies began publishing AJISS-Commentary to disseminate "Japanese views on international relations."

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Logo design: Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa. Source: Okinawa Peace Fighters (Okinawa & USA), 2005.

• Many of the Japan links on the "Asia, comparatively" web page (above) include content relevant to Okinawa.

• Consult Gregory Smits' Ryukyuan and Okinawan History website.

• How many foreign (U.S.) military bases can you locate on this map of Okinawa? (Not all of them are indicated on it!)

• The Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau also publishes information on history, culture and tours.

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• Two Japanese-language newspapers published in Okinawa are the Okinawa Times and The Ryukyu Shimpo.

• Present-day Okinawa-ken is the southernmost prefecture of Japan.

• Even larger than Okinawa Prefecture, historical Okinawa was the semi-independent Ryukyuan Kingdom for more than five centuries. It paid tribute to China and, secretly, to Japan. The Kingdom extended north into the area occupied by present-day Kagoshima-ken until the nineteenth century. Download a summary of "Recent Trends in Scholarship on the History of Ryukyu" (Gregory Smits, symposium, Bonn University, revised, 2006)

• However, the Satsuma Clan pressed southward, defeated the weakened Kingdom in 1609, and steadily brought it under its suzerainty. In 1879, Okinawa was forced to become a prefecture directly administered by Meiji Japan, although Okinawa's power began weakening many years earlier.

• An instructive controversy has emerged over exactly how pacifist the government of the Ryukyuan Kingdom was.

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• In any case, Okinawans did not invite World War II into their beautiful islands. They suffered disproportionately as a result of Japanese militarists' appetite for conquest and because of Japan's inability to defend Okinawa against American bombardment and invasion. Along with U.S. and Japanese military casualties in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, one third of all Okinawan civilians were killed.

• After Japan's surrender, Okinawa's path diverged from Japan which was under U.S. military administration for barely seven years.

• On 15 May 1972, Okinawa's administrative "Reversion" to Japan began. The incomplete "Reversion" extended the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty to Okinawa, and the U.S. military stayed on. In March 2001, the U.S. military footprint still pressed deeply on Okinawa.

• Militant protests by the subnational and transnational Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa since 1995 have confronted Presidents Clinton (1993-2001) and Bush (2001- ) and Prime Ministers Murayama, Hashimoto (1996-1998), Obuchi (1998-2000), Mori (2000-2001), Koizumi (2001-2007) and Abe (2006 - ) with human rights violations and environmental damage caused by the military occupation of Okinawa.

• Created in 1995, The Contemporary Okinawa Website is regularly updated.

• The Futenma-Henoko Action Network intends to bring the wishes and demands of Okinawans to the attention of Japanese and U.S. politicians.

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• The Okinawa Environmental Network is based in Naha, Okinawa.

• Centered in San Francisco with support from Okinawans in Okinawa, the Okinawan diaspora and others, the Okinawa Peace Fighters organization exemplifies the transnational reach of the Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa.

• In an otherwise useful website needing an update, environmental damage to Okinawa from U.S. military bases and Japanese public works projects is assessed.

• Login or register at the Kyushu and Okinawa Studies discussion forum.

• The largest concentration of Uchinanchu outside Okinawa is in Hawai‘i. Visit the Hawaii United Okinawa Association.

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• Search India- and other South Asia-focused links to topics in history, culture, religion, literature, government, business and education.

• Savifa is a virtual library portal for South Asia (in German). "Savifa has been built up by the Library of the South Asia Institute in Heidelberg in cooperation with Heidelberg University Library and has been funded by the German Research Council."

• With an estimated 1,065,070,607 people (CIA estimate, July 2004), India's rapidly growing population may exceed China's by 2015. Search Google India News for additional information.

• The 2nd-, 3rd- and 4th-largest Muslim populations in the world live in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, respectively. For international Muslim news, Muslimedia International and archives from Crescent International.

• Following a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, Hamid Karzai became Chairman of the Interim Administrationn of Afghanistan. Today he is President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

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• The primary goal of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies "is the study of Hindu culture, religion, languages, literature, philosophy, history, arts, and society, in all periods and in all parts of the world. All Hindu traditions are included."

• A project of the Centre for the Study of Geopolitics at Panjab University, the Indian Ocean Research Group provides an "umbrella for social science policy-oriented research in the Indian Ocean Rim."

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• Founded in Afghanistan, since 1977 the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) has opposed Russian invaders, the former Taliban regime and U.S. President Bush's so-called "Global War on Terror." With words, photos and music, RAWA outlines a broader vision of a liberated future for their sisters. If you are blocked from accessing their website, try its mirror site.

• See Frontline's Return of the Taliban (PBS).

• The pro-government South Asia Terrorism Portal provides daily and weekly briefings with national and subnational and national backgrounders, assessments, documents and data sheets from the South Asia Intelligence Review.

• Dawn (Karachi, Pakistan) is a widely circulated and informative newspaper with mildly critical perspective on South/Central Asia news. Dawn maintains a four-week archive.

• Also, The Friday Times (Lahore, Parkisan) provides paid subscribers with weekly alternatives to government-friendly news.

• For four spatial views of western Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, explore an interactive map from the Council on Foreign Relations.

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• Taiwan Google News (in Chinese).

• The Taiwan Culture Research Programme enables "an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of Taiwan and a comparative approach to the study of Taiwan in its Asian and global contexts."

• The Taiwan Cross-Strait Directory presents six distinctive, overlapping and competing perspectives on Taiwan-focused issues. Edited by Vincent Pollard with assistance from scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, this Directory is a part of the Asia-Pacific Digital Library (Kapi‘olani Community College — University of Hawai‘i System).

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Last modified, 31 March 2008.

© 1999-2008, Vincent K. Pollard.

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