Japan and the Eastern World

The 4th International Conference on Vietnamese Oriental Studies with the theme “Japan and the Oriental World” co-organized by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Toshiba Foundation (Japan) took place on February 6, 2009. More than 30 reports were presented at the conference, which were new studies on Oriental studies issues.

The conference was divided into two sub-committees, sub-committee 1: Japan in the Oriental world; sub-committee 2: Issues in Oriental studies.

Discussing Japan in the Eastern world, reports have shown interest in the miraculous changes of Japan since the period of opening up and international integration. This issue has been thoroughly researched and analyzed by Japanese scientists as well as many other countries to point out the superiority in the economic and foreign policies that the Japanese government has implemented to bring rapid and stable growth to Japan, making this country the first economic superpower of Asia, with a prominent political position in the context of the modern world. The world highly appreciates the "Japanese miracle" and praises the effective and unique development and management model of this country. In that model, the three main pillars: lifetime employment, seniority-based wages, and in-house labor unions have created the uniqueness and are the cause of Japan's miracle over the past decades. Even the above model has been spread, learned and successfully applied with different levels and ways in many other countries.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/02/10/img_0431.jpg" border="0" alt="Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh speaks at the conference" title="Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh speaks at the conference" width="240" height="161" align="left" ]

However, in the current context, is the old development model still suitable for the development reality of society, what will the Japanese do to continue to maintain their role and position in the international arena, what lessons from Japan can Vietnam learn in the current stage of industrialization and modernization of the country... These are questions that continue to require careful reflection and research from the scientific community.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/02/10/img_6695.jpg" border="0" alt="Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu and Dr. Trinh Cam Lan chaired subcommittee 2: Issues in Oriental Studies" title="Prof. Dr. Mai Ngoc Chu and Dr. Trinh Cam Lan chaired subcommittee 2: Issues in Oriental Studies" width="240" height="161" align="right" ]

Some other reports focus on analyzing the diplomatic policies that the Japanese government has applied in its relations with some countries in the region such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia in certain historical periods since World War II. In particular, the reports highly appreciate the cultural diplomacy strategy that Japan has applied very successfully in fully promoting the strength and influence of cultural factors to persuade and strengthen cooperation with partners, enhance the image of its country, thereby bringing success in diplomatic work, contributing to supporting other economic, political, defense, and security interests.

Some other reports study the unique cultural features of Japan through house architecture, analyze the subtle changes of Japanese people and society through famous Japanese literary works as well as the names of modern Japanese writers who are famous in the world.

In subcommittee 2, discussing issues of Oriental studies, the reports are a collection of new and diverse research on many specific fields such as: linguistics, literature, education, art, humanities... but linked to each narrow specialty such as: Indian studies, Southeast Asian studies, Korean studies, Chinese studies.