okay, if you actually read what I posted you'd see that D&D was first published in Japanese in 1985, the same year OA came out. publishing a book in a foreign country in a foreign language usually involves a lot of correspondence, so it's not like they didn't have the means necessary to ask "hey could you have some Japanese players take a look at this stuff and see what they think?" while they're at it. though now that I think about it, that makes the level of input look even worse.I just can't picture the folks at TSR going out of their way to mail a manuscript to Japan in the pre-internet days unless they were looking for cultural insight. If all they wanted was playtesters or editors, surely there were plenty of those available without the expense and hassle of sending international packages.
They probably didn't have the same level of expertise for other Asian cultures, in fact, being Japanese is no guarantee that they were even experts on Japanese history or culture any more than your average American is an expert on their history and culture.
this also doesn't address the fact they're still just a Japanese group of players. as everyone has said before "Asian people aren't a monolith!". I know it sounds cynical, but while this group may have had a decent to surprisingly amazing level of expertise on Japanese history I don't expect the same level of expertise for other Asian cultures.
if it's bad, then why bend over backwards to defend it? there's a lot of material now that is probably not only better but coincidentally stands up better to academic rigor. you can still buy OA second hand, but it's just a curiosity at best at this point.Oriental Adventures was produced for entertainment purposes and wasn't designed to stand up to any sort of academic rigor.
So why does it matter whether or not they were experts? And what is the minimum standard to be considered an expert in this context?
also I don't think you understand the level of influence a product made for entertainment purposes can have. if this was someone's only view into Asian culture it's going to skew how they view Asian culture. this isn't to say it's wrong to gain knowledge or insight via entertainment, but to do so without realizing the context of it can lead to skewed results.