 Despite almost uninterrupted relations between Japan and the Netherlands dating back to 1640 and earlier, the "Nichi-Ran jiten" has been the only "Japanese"–Dutch Dictionary of at least medium size till 2006.On the other hand, efforts to compile a "Dutch"–Japanese dictionary date back to the period of Rangaku (the Japanese effort to learn about Western sciences through the Dutch) and lead to two major publications in Japan.The dictionary "Haruma Wage" (波留麻和解) was published in 1796–1799.