Chapter 2 explores the Java-China-Japan Lijn, one of the largest Dutch shipping companies during the interwar period, which transported cargo and passengers between the Netherlands East Indies, China, and Japan. Due to its vulnerable position within a competitive Asian shipping market, the company was forced to concede to customer demands while simultaneously attempting to maintain racial integrity and imperial authority in its business dealings across the region. Contending with an increasingly cosmopolitan and politicized clientele ‒ who at times used the company to question the unjust treatment of Chinese residents in the Netherlands East Indies and critique Dutch interference in East and Southeast Asia ‒ the company was conflicted about how to segregate various ethnic groups onboard. Additionally, the company was forced to negotiate with an increasingly complex set of Chinese actors ashore, including local agents and middlemen, who forced the company to make concessions at odds with their imperial position. Rapidly changing dynamics in Asia’s interwar maritime world forced European imperialists to relinquish control over transoceanic spaces.