This study examines the issue of income convergence in the East−Asian economies from the non−linear point of view. It is shown in this study that the income gaps between Japan and the rest of the East−Asian economies exhibit nonlinearities. It is further shown that after taking non−linearity into consideration, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines exhibit divergence behaviour with respect to Japan’s income, whereas Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore show otherwise.