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 [log in to unmask]