Japan and the Republic of Vietnam

From: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2023 9:02 PM
To: carlthayer@iinet.net.au; carlthayer@webone.com.au
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Japan and the Republic of Vietnam

Carl and list,

I can suggest two sources that may be useful re: Japan’s relationship with the Republic of Vietnam:

Fire Across the Sea: The Vietnam War and Japan 1965-1975, Thomas R.H. Havens

Princeton University Press, 1987

Japanese Relations with Vietnam, 1951–1987 By Masaya Shiraishi

Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1990.

:: Mike High

Author | Researcher

Great Falls, VIrginia

USA

From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2023 8:17 AM
To: Alvin K Bui <alvinbui@uw.edu>; carlthayer@iinet.net.au
Cc: carlthayer@webone.com.au; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Japan and the Republic of Vietnam

I have not studied the RVN-Japan relation. Chu Duy Ly, while at Harvard, was focused on the environmental and technical aspects of the Da nhim dam project. I suggested to Ly that he also include the history of the project.
In around 1958, my mother bought some fabric to make new outfits for my sister and me. The fabric was part of Japanese war reparations to Vietnam, which under US pressure, Japan was directed to RVN.  The fabric was made of red stripes on a white background. One wash and the stripes diappeared. It was a time when people joked that Japanese watches were sold by the kg given their low quality.  How times have changed!

Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Harvard University emerita

From: Alvin K Bui <alvinbui@uw.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2023 2:10 AM
To: carlthayer@iinet.net.au
Cc: carlthayer@webone.com.au; vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Vsg] Japan and the Republic of Vietnam

Dear Professor Thayer and list,

Although I am not aware (or ignorant) of any classic texts on the relations between Japan and the RVN, I want to call attention to Harvard Yenching Institute-NUS Joint Doctoral Scholar Chu Duy Ly's research on the Da Nhim Dam constructed in the 1960s, under the direction of Bruce Lockhart. Ly reports that he is near the finish line of completing his doctoral thesis now, so for now you can find a profile of his ongoing research at the HYI website here.

Ly notes the “unique position of Japan, as both a recipient and sender[of aid]. They received technical aid and loans from the United States and the World Bank for reconstruction and development long after the US Occupation ended in 1952, and they transferred that to developing countries. What were the relations between Japan, the US, and South Vietnam?” The US government didn’t financially and technically support the Da Nhim hydropower dam project in South Vietnam, instead sponsoring an “Atomic Power” (Nguyên Tử Lực) project and thermal power plants. This gave an opening for the Japanese to step in, with the support of the South Vietnamese government for the dam project.

To conduct his research, Ly relies on Vietnamese, Japanese, and French documents in the national archives in Vietnam and Japan.

Ly is informed by international relations training in his BA and MA, so this should make for a very fascinating study that addresses the intricacies of Japan's relations with the RVN.

For my own part, I have extracted biographies of former RVN ambassadors to Japan from the Who's Who/Nhân Vật VNCH volume, and note that the current SRVN embassy building is on the same street as the former RVN embassy (possibly the same location, with a "house number" renumbering likely taking place sometime since the 1970s). The Saigon Municipal Committee unsuccessfully attempted to establish a Saigon-Tokyo sister cities relationship in the 1970s following the signing of a Saigon-Taipei agreement in 1968.

Professor Thayer himself has written on the DRVN's "politics of transition" in 1974. I can only add my own attendance of the vibrant 8th Japan Vietnam Festival, which highlighted the 50th year anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and the DRVN/SRVN. The official post-Paris Peace Accords negotiations for normalization of relations between the countries started in July of 1973 and are chronicled here as part of the celebrations for the 45th year anniversary in 2018.

From: carlthayer@iinet.net.au <carlthayer@iinet.net.au>
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2023 3:25 PM
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: [Vsg] Japan and the Republic of Vietnam

Dear collkeagues,

I am reaching out to locate any academic publications on Japan’s relations with the Republic of Vietnam. What are the “classic” texts and has any new scholarship been published?

I can be contacted at: carlthayer@webone.com.au

Cheers,

Carl

Carlyle A. Thayer

Emeritus Professor

University of New South Wales Canberra at the

Australian Defence Force Academy

Phone: +61 (02) 6251 1849

Mobile: +61 0437376 429

carlthayer@iinet.net.au