trade in Southeast Asia thrived. Many of the more active ports came to have a port master, or head of the Japanese community; this port master, called syahbandar in Malay and Indonesia, oversaw the activities of the residents of the Nihonmachi, served as a liaison between the community and the local authorities, and played an important role in coordinating the port's trade with non-resident Japanese traders who came to the port. For roughly three decades, Japanese communities across Southeast Asia thrived. This came to an end, however, in the 1630s, as the Tokugawa shogunate began to impose maritime restrictions; in 1635, Japanese were banned from travelling abroad, and from returning to Japan from overseas. Some of these Southeast Asian Nihonmachi survived through the end of the 17th century. Japan's foreign trade was now handled exclusively by Chinese, Dutch, and Southeast Asian ships, but Japanese living abroad continued to play important commercial roles, and in some cases to exert considerable influence upon the economies of a number of ports. Still, by the end of the 17th century, the lack of influx of new Japanese immigrants led these communities to either disappear through assimilation into the peoples of their new homes, or to die out entirely. Communities During this brief but vibrant period, Japanese communities (Nihonmachi) existed in many of the major ports and political centers of the region, including Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, Hội An in Nguyễn southern Viet Nam, Manila in the Captaincy General of the Philippines of Spanish East Indies, and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. An important and significant Nihonmachi is that of Paco in Manila, where the famous Christian Samurai General Takayama and his wife, children, and descendants lived. The exiled daimyo was known for his military prowess and served with Oda Nobunaga and Ieyasu Tokugawa. The largest, and perhaps most famous, Nihonmachi of the period was that in the Siamese port city and royal capital of Ayutthaya, whose head, Yamada Nagamasa, bore prominent posts and titles in the royal court. Yamada led an army of 700 Japanese, and took part in suppressing rebellions, civil wars, and succession disputes; he was also allowed to control monopolies over particular goods, such as deerskin, and was given at least nominal governorship of a few provinces at various points. On the other end of the spectrum, though the port of Tonkin in northern Vietnam played an important role in