Site History

This blog started in 2007 when the site creator, Maltzajava, participated in the United States-Indonesia Society’s Summer Studies Program. The blog was originally called “Stories from Java”, and it focused on culture, language, and politics in Indonesia. After a year or so without any activity, he decided to revive the blog after moving to Singapore in 2008. At the time, the name of the site was changed to “City State Life”.

In 2009, the site’s name changed to  東一句西一句 (Simplified: 东一句西一句; pinyin: dōng yī jù xī yī jù; Japanese: tō ichi ku sei ichi ku) after The Dragoman joined the blog. The Chinese set phrase, or chéngyǔ 成語, means, “speaking incoherently”, but can also be translated as “The East a Sentence, the West a Sentence.” The authors, a Westerner in the East and an Easterner in the West, wrote about politics, language, culture, religion, travel, and anything else they found interesting about Asia.

In 2010, a job change made it difficult for the Dragoman to continue his regular contributions, so the name changed once again. Although the site no longer has regular updates from an Easterner in the West, Maltzajava hopes to have occasional guest posts to incorporate different perspectives regarding issues in the East, West, and everything in between.