It’s Memorial Day in the States, and to celebrate we had a pan-Asian party yesterday for staff and some of our farflung freelancers. It was great to see Francesca, who has worked for us since the Encyclopedia of Modern Asia: her particular expertise is Japan, and her contribution was sticky rice in sweet wrappers. Margaux brought southeast Asian noodle-and-peanut-sauce spring rolls, and there was a tray of sushi, too, along with the Korean barbeque and Chinese dumplings (jiaoxi) we’d made. Tom is heading off to Shanghai soon, and his Chinese professor John Weinstein came to join us. There were a couple of librarians, too, including Dana Cummings of Simon’s Rock College, who has been a fan and advisor for nearly as long as Trevor Young has been tackling our IT challenges. A farewell to Tom, a celebration of the start of summer (and Margaux and Matt’s new house!), and also a signal that Asia is again on our horizon.