Japanese students leave Vietnam with warm feelings

“I love them, and will miss them so much,” Kumiko Fukukawa said with tear-filled eyes of her Vietnamese friends at the farewell party held on board the Japanese ship Fuji Maru Cruiser docked at Saigon Port.

HCMC was chosen as the first destination of the students’ tour to mark 35 years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan.

The tour is part of the Hyogo Joint Summer Session At Sea organized by the Hyogo prefectural government to bring Japanese students to Asia-Pacific countries for cultural exchanges.

During their short stay in Vietnam, the Japanese students met their peers from the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities, toured the southern metropolis, and visited the Cu Chi Tunnels and My Tho Town in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.

Upon the group’s arrival in Vietnam, Toh Goda, a professor in the group who comes here to teach twice a

year, said although the students were seasick they were excited about what awaited them here.

Miki Takeachi and Mei Tanaka, who stayed with a photographer’s family, said they had learned a lot about Vietnam.

“Even though I’ve studied a lot about Vietnam’s history, when I came to the Ho Chi Minh War Remnants Museum, I was so sad,” said Miki.

“I feel like the sorrow from the war in Vietnam was beyond what I studied in books. It suddenly made me remember the Hiroshima bomb.”

Mei said she liked pomelo and rambutans very much.

“My host family is very kind to us,” she said.

Abe Yukari was also impressed by the local cuisine.

She loved pho (Vietnamese noodles) and said she could eat it every day.

“But there are many dishes that have nuoc mam (fish sauce),” she said. “It’s so strange. I don’t like it.”

Abe’s friend, Tani Sayuri, said though she learned a lot, language differences were still a barrier.

“I’ll study Vietnamese to learn more about Vietnamese culture,” she said.

Reported by Thanh Van