Introduction

INTRODUCTION THE STUDY OF MODERN ASIAN DRAMA has finally come into its own. Until recently the field of modern Asian drama had been almost a neglected field in the West. In the post-war period, Asia began to attract the attention of Europe and America. Students and scholars have gradually come to engage in research on contemporary Asian theater. Several universities have established Asian theater programs entirely apart from the Department of Speech and Drama, while others are in the process of building similar institutes. Furthermore, for the last few years several American universities such as Yale, Dartmouth, Denver, North Carolina, and others have presented modern Asian plays on their campuses. This Asian drama issue contains nine papers in all; One provides an interpretative analysis of the social role of popular theater in Southeast Asia. Some are serious studies that deal with the relation between the classical and traditional dramas of China and Japan and those in the modern period, while other informative papers will serve as guides for the general reader u~initiated in folk or national drama. There are four discussions each on the modern drama of Japan and China. Some of these are comparative studies of Western, Chinese and Japanese plays in the modern period. These discussions are concerned with the impact of Western drama on modern Chinese and Japanese plays. They will, perhaps, resolve the question of whether or not modern Asian drama (especially the realistic plays of Japan and China) has been enlightened and developed under the stimulation of European and American drama since the nineteenth century in terms of style and content. TOSHIHIKO SATO 347 ...