This volume derives from a symposium held at the XIth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences in Vancouver, British Columbia in September, 1983. The symposium was organized by T. Akazawa at the request of Dr. Richard J. Pearson; the interest and support of Professor Pearson is greatly appreciated and warmly acknowledged. At the symposium, Professor Fumiko Ikawa-Smith, of McGill University, offered thoughtful and stimulating comments on the papers. Her participation was greatly appreciated by both the authors of the papers and the audience in attendance at the time.

Financial support for the research reported in this series of papers, and for the various authors' participation in the Congress, came from a wide variety of sources; the individual authors' universities may be mentioned specifically, as may the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and especially the Mitsubishi Foundation (). Without such support scholarly endeavors cannot proceed, and the above agencies are warmly thanked, on behalf of all the participants, for their contributions to the volume presented here.