Hi Jerry
I'm afraid that, as often with Mephisto, once I had a key link between the clue and apparent answer (Note=mese) I made the 'leap of faith'. The only Asian people link with MESE I can find is MACANESE, which may be quite irrelevant ! The Macanese are an old Portugese colony in a region of China. Unfortunately, ACAN doesn't seem to be a 'native' that can be 'displaced' to leave 'mese'.
Hopefully all will become clear.
Alan