Quote Originally Posted by AntiochusIII
Those two are different.

The Burmese went through a series of wars with Great Britain and was summarily crushed and colonized. Arguably Burmese military might compared to their local rivals made them a little overconfident. The Thais, their biggest local rivals, survive through the colonial era uncolonized but losing various border provinces and vassals appeasing the colonial powers France and Great Britain.
True enough... I guess that my main point (though most likely horribly misworded... ) was that both the Thais and the Japanese WANTED to become more modernized (for a while at least!) I had not considered the importance of said "luxury products" and their impact on trade at that time. Good call!