Seminar "New Research on Japan and Asia"

At the seminar, Dr. Pham Hoang Hung (Faculty of Oriental Studies) presented his research on the topic "The Cool Japan Strategy Viewed from the Phenomenon of the Mobile Game Pokemon Go". The term "Cool Japan" was first officially mentioned in 2004 in the Blue Book of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In it, the Japanese government acknowledged that "Japanese popular culture has attracted worldwide attention under the name 'Cool Japan'." Subsequently, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry upgraded it to the "Cool Japan Strategy" in 2011. By generalizing and elevating popular culture as a new strength, a new face, and a new diplomatic strategy, Japan has been able to focus its resources on maintaining and enhancing its national position in the process of global cultural exchange. Dr. Pham Hoang Hung's research begins with an examination of the Pokemon Go phenomenon, then expands to consider it within the context of how the "Cool Japan Strategy" is implemented. Simultaneously, the study also begins to explore the position of Cool Japan within the broader strategy of building soft power for Japan. The article also offers some opinions on the conditions and suggestions for Vietnam to develop its own cultural policy.

The second report presented at the seminar was "Some Experimental Studies on Korean Vowels and Experiments on the Vowels /θ/ and /y/ of Vietnamese Students Learning Korean" by young scientist Nguyen Minh Chung (Faculty of Oriental Studies). The report presented several typical experiments on Korean vowels, and also conducted experiments comparing the pronunciation of the Korean vowels /θ/ and /y/ by Vietnamese learners with the equivalent pronunciation by native Korean speakers. From the experimental results, the paper indicated that the unnatural pronunciation of the learners was due to a lack of understanding of the nature and phonetic theory of the vowels /θ/ and /y/.