This volume collects 18 papers exploring aspects of interaction and exchange relations in and across the waters of East Asia, with the introductory essay laying out the reasons for seeing these waters as analogous to the European Mediterranean as a facilitator of trade, diplomacy, and cultural transmission. The main focus of the papers concerns Sino-Japanese, Sino-Ryukyuan, and Japanese-Korean relations, as well as the involvement of Muslim merchants in Asian waters. Specific topics include Chinese and Muslim diasporas and the Indian Ocean trade network under Mongol hegemony, European efforts to control the Indian Ocean from 1400 to 1800, Muslim merchants in Mongol Yuan China, merchant networks in the Japanese invasion of Korea in the late 16th century, archaeological evidence from Muromachi period Japan concerning international maritime trade in East Asia, Ming Jianyang prints and the spread of the teachings of Zhu Xi to Japan and the Ryukyu Kingdom in the 17th century, the information strategy of imposter envoys from the Kyushu region of Japan to Choson Korea in the 15th and 16th centuries, and troubles during trading activities between Japanese and Chinese in the Ming period. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)