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.