General In reaction to recent discussion in Asiaweek about Asia's position in science and technology, Professor Wim Stokhof proposes that the European Commission use the ASEM process as an instrument to co-operate with Asia in its pursuit of acquiring the necessary scientific sophistication. 400 years of Dutch-Japanese relations As this year marks four centuries of contact between the Netherlands and Japan, for this Newsletter's special theme, Ivo Smits and Margarita Winkel have gathered together nine scholars who discuss their various approaches and perspectives on Dutch-Japanese relations during the past 400 years. It was neither a relationship between colonizer and colonized, nor was it contact without effect. Sources that reveal the history of these old ties can help us gain greater insights into the dealings between foreign cultures. Regions Central Asia Bon is one of the pre-Buddhist religions in Tibet, and it could well be said that, in Bonpo culture, we perceive something essential or basic that has penetrated Tibetan culture from ancient time to the present day. It may generally be admitted, that Bonpo Studies are far behind those of Tibetan Buddhism, which are now flourishing worldwide, particularly in Japan. Yasuhiko Nagano discusses the origins of the Bon Project. South Asia The recent 75th anniversary celebrations for the founding of the Kern Institute in Leiden inspired this retrospective look at the institute's founder himself, 'a Dutchman who went Indian'. Professor Jean Philippe Vogel, Sanskritist and archaeologist, travelled throughout India between 1899 and 1914. Gerda Theuns-de Boer is convinced that his experiences lay at the root of the foundation of the Kern Institute. Insular South West Asia Unlike most other Creole-speaking nations, the Seychelles have already created a standard form of their language. In most instances of language-engineering the officially recommended form may differ from popular forms. The Seychelles are no exception to this. Jean-Claude Pascal Mahoune writes about the development and evolution of Seychellois Creole. East Asia In Choson Korea, a land of 'philosophers' (1392-1910), kings and literati tried to steer the kingdom by the principles of Neo-Confucian political philosophy. KarpChon Kim discusses a 'Tug-of-War' that emerged between the public and the private in traditional Korea. Southeast Asia Because of the fluidity and thus the political potential of ethnicity, many states perceive ethnic groups as a threat to national unity. But what about the state's perception of having exclusive or sovereign right to manipulate those ideologies and to enforce its interpretation? Michael Jacobsen opens a discussion about 'Indonesia on the Threshold'. Asian Arts 'I'm interested in moments and what is real ­ resistances, drives, desires, urges, wishes, and so on. Without those things you wouldn't have some sort of animation or drama', said the artist Ken Lum once in an interview. At the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1998, he presented 'Photo-mirrors: Presenting new reflections'. Saskia Monshouwer talks about the artist and his work.