Research into language issues and communication problems is investigated across a range of disciplines and appears in a wide diversity of published outlets. In addition, any linguistic and communication problems faced by Southeast Asian immigrants elsewhere in the world are also located in disparate contexts. This journal is the first real attempt to provide a forum for such widespread concerns to be published in the English Language.

This volume aims to investigate the economic aspects of ever improving communication in the Asian Pacific, particularly its many languages and speech communities.

Animation has had a global renaissance during the 1990s, and nowhere is this more evident than in Asia. With the exception of China and Japan, most Asian nations are relatively new to this art form. Over the last decade, countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand, as well as China, have acted as major offshore production plants for North American and European studios. One of the spurs for this increase in activity has been the global growth of terrestrial, cable, satellite, and video systems, all demanding large menus of programming, including animation. A second spur has been the exceptional popularity that Japanese animé has enjoyed across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Despite these developments, there has not been corresponding growth of a serious literature covering industrial and aesthetic issues about Asian animation, and the small amount of work that has been produced has not been published in English. Animation in Asia and the Pacific provides the first continent-wide analysis, delving into issues of production, distribution, exhibition, aesthetics, and regulation in this burgeoning field. Animation in Asia and the Pacific also offers vignettes of the fascinating experiences of a group of animation pioneers. The historical and contemporary perspectives derive from interviews, textual analysis, archival research, and participation/observation data.