Maritime Asia comprises an Asiatic region which expands outward from mainland bases bound together by water based trade and commerce networks. It functions as an organic system of states interconnected by the various seas which it spans, even as its center has migrated over time from China to England to Japan. As the present global order shifts, the key question for Japan remains how best to navigate this system. A recipient of the first Yomiuri Yoshino Sakuzo Prize in 2000 for scholarly writing about politics, this book takes a holistic view of two centuries of Asian history in the framework of Maritime Asia. In its pages, the Maritime Asia experience is examined comparatively across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. A new author s note brings this English language edition up to date on regional developments since the original publication.