NOTE ON TERMS, NAMES, TRANSLITERATION, AND TRANSLATION

Burmese is used to refer to the language or to a person or people in general of Burma or Myanmar, whereas Burman or Bamar is used to refer to the majority ethnic group in the country. I refer to the country as “Myanmar” for the post-1988 period and “Burma” for the pre-1988 period. There are no surnames in the country, and therefore Burmese names appear in their full form at every occurrence in the book. In the bibliography, Burmese names have been alphabetized by the first letter of the first syllable of the name. Where appropriate, honorifics such as “Daw” and “U” have been added to names, but these prefixes do not affect alphabetization nor appear in the bibliography. Occasionally, some Burmese language sources have both an English and Burmese title; in these cases, the original English title has been retained. In citing Burmese-language sources and transliterating Burmese text, I follow the Romanization system based on the BGN/PCGN 1970 agreement. The names of well-known Burmese people and places have been cited according to the most commonly used English spelling.

When writing Japanese names, I follow the Japanese practice of placing the surname first, followed by the given name. I transliterate Japanese-language words using the modified Hepburn system. The only exception is with widely recognized names like Tokyo and Osaka.

Any unattributed translations from Burmese and Japanese sources are my own.

MAP 1. Asia, from the Arabian Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

MAP 2. Colonial Burma.