On May 7, 2012, Professor Furuta Motoo (Tokyo National University - Japan) gave a presentation on the topic "The 1945 famine in Vietnam - Historical evidence" at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.The research work “The 1945 famine in Vietnam – Historical evidence” was published by the Vietnam Institute of History in 1995, co-edited by Professor Van Tao and Professor Furuta Motoo with 14 other authors who are researchers of the Institute of History. The work was awarded the State Prize for Science and Technology in 2010. At the presentation, Professor Furuta Motoo focused on the 1945 famine - a tragedy that took place during the Japanese military occupation of Vietnam, all Vietnamese people knew about this event and its terrible tragedy. However, in Japan, before the book “The 1945 famine in Vietnam – Historical evidence” was published, only a few people knew about the 1945 famine in Vietnam or some people knew about it but did not believe in the severity of this tragedy. Professor Furuta Motoo said that, using empirical research methods and historical documents investigated on a village scale, from Quang Tri to the North, this research project selected 23 villages, for each village, the total population was investigated in 1945, households were divided and the number of people who died from famine in each household was clarified. Thereby, it provided specific evidence of the comparable level of damage between the 1945 famine in Vietnam and the famine in Japan at the end of the 18th century. Currently in Japan, although there are still many different opinions about the scale of the number of people who died from starvation, the vast majority of scientists interested in Vietnam agree that a very devastating famine occurred in 1945 in Vietnam. Some new Japanese History textbooks have also mentioned the 1945 famine in Vietnam.
Professor Furuta Motoo emphasized: Currently, the relationship between Vietnam and Japan is developing very well, the leaders of the two countries affirmed that the two countries are "strategic partners". The professor believes that understanding historical truth is a solid foundation of friendship between the people of Vietnam and Japan. And this work has contributed to cultivating the foundation of the strategic partnership between the two countries. At the presentation, lecturers and students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities had exchanges and discussions about the empirical research method and the memory materials used in the research work. According to Professor Furuta Motoo, this empirical research method can be applied in many other studies in the field of social sciences and humanities. Professor Furuta Motoo has more than 30 years of research on Vietnam, and is currently the Chairman of the Japan - Vietnam Friendship Association.
