I've always been told that Oriental refers to "east of Jerusalem"
and is not very descriptive. There was a book a year or so by
Edward Said called "Orientalisms" that goes into the history of
the term.
 
There also seems to be a polital difference between the East
and West coasts in the U.S. with the west being more comfortable.
with the term "Oriental".
At least that's what I've been told by my Japanese friends.
Neither seems very descriptive to me.
 
Robbin Murphy
NYU/Museum Studies
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