The Vietnamese Association in Saitama and Its Contributions to the Vietnamese Community in Japan

During his visit to his homeland Vietnam in July 2024, Mr. Pham Dinh Thuong, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Saitama Prefecture, had an exchange with Thoi Dai Magazine reporters about the role and contributions of the Vietnamese community in Saitama Prefecture.

Prominent Activities of the Vietnamese Association in Saitama

The Vietnamese Association in Saitama (the Association) is a non-profit organization established in 2021 to connect Vietnamese citizens currently living and working in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. The Association aims to unite and support the Vietnamese community in Saitama Prefecture. At the same time, the Association also seeks to spread the beauty of Vietnamese culture to international friends.

Despite being newly established, the Association has engaged in many practical and prominent activities, such as the "Hello Saitama" Festival in 2023 and the "Spring Homeland" event in Tokyo in 2023.

Images of the "Hello Saitama" Festival 2023 organized in collaboration with the Association.

Among these, the "Hello Saitama" Festival attracted 100,000 participants and was highly appreciated by the local authorities. The festival recreated a Vietnam within Saitama, contributing to promoting Vietnamese culture to the Japanese people, enhancing people-to-people exchanges and business cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in general, and between Saitama Prefecture and Vietnam in particular.

At the festival, Japanese people had the opportunity to experience distinctive aspects of Vietnamese culture such as making star lanterns, participating in mid-autumn lantern parades, creating Dong Ho folk paintings, and enjoying various artistic performances like karate demonstrations, vovinam, lion dances, and Quan Ho folk singing. Alongside this was the experience of an exhibition space showcasing photographs of Vietnam’s seas and islands, helping the broader Vietnamese community in Japan to raise awareness about protecting territorial sovereignty and fostering national pride.

A lively reconstruction of a Hoi An house at the "Hello Saitama" Festival 2023.

In addition, to support the second generation (F2) born in Japan, the Association also organizes free Vietnamese language and culture classes for Vietnamese children aged 4 to 11. The Association takes pride in the cultural and spiritual activities it has carried out in recent times to spread the beautiful traditional cultural values of the Vietnamese people to friends in Japan and the broader international community.

The Prestige and Role of the Vietnamese Community in Saitama in the Host Country

Currently, the Vietnamese community in Saitama numbers around 45,000 people. In 2022, during a meeting with the Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu and the Vietnamese Association in Saitama, Mr. OHNO Motohiro, Governor of Saitama Prefecture, highly appreciated the role of the Vietnamese people in the sustainable development of the prefecture. He stated, "The Vietnamese community is very hardworking, diligent, and has become a main labor force in the prefecture. They are also the cultural bridge connecting Vietnam and Japan."

In this meeting, the Association had frank and practical discussions with the Governor about narrowing the cultural gap between the Japanese and foreign communities, including the Vietnamese. In the near future, the Saitama Prefectural Government will provide more support in earthquake and fire prevention by offering information entirely in Vietnamese.

The Association has played a significant role in bringing music events to Japan to serve the Vietnamese expatriates.

Future Plans and Development Directions Towards the Community

In the coming time, the Vietnamese Association in Saitama will continue to organize music events, bringing Vietnamese artists to perform for the Vietnamese community, while also promoting Vietnamese culture closer to the local population and the Vietnamese community in Japan.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu and Mr. Pham Dinh Thuong, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Saitama Prefecture (far left) during a working session with the Governor of Saitama Prefecture.

The Association will implement a shuttle service program to bring students to study centers, helping disadvantaged families maintain Vietnamese language education for their children.

In addition, due to language barriers, some members of the Vietnamese community have not fully understood Japanese laws. Therefore, in the near future, the Association will focus on legal education for Vietnamese people in Saitama Prefecture. The Association's representatives have worked with local wards, communes, and provincial departments to discuss the issue of legal education for the Vietnamese community in the province. It is reported that the Saitama Prefectural Government has decided to publish a Japanese legal handbook entirely in Vietnamese to help the Vietnamese community live and work better in Japan.

Moreover, in August 2024, the Association will collaborate with various entities to organize the "Aspiration for Peace" program in Quang Tri, aimed at honoring the heroic martyrs at the Quang Tri Citadel. This program expresses gratitude and honors the great contributions of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation's independence!

These are the insights gathered from the interview with Mr. Pham Dinh Thuong, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Saitama. Through this, we can see the Association's future plans with its positive contributions to the community and the deeply cherished contributions to the Vietnamese people.

(Source: Thoi Dai Magazine)