Japan and Vietnam: two different worlds? The paths of the North Asian economic giant and the Southeast Asian socialist country in the throes of transition were not particularly meant to cross. But this geo-economic logic has been disproved by history.
In this study Guy FAURE, and Laurent SCHWAB point out relations between the two countries have been greatly influenced by outside powers. In the late nineteenth century, confronted by Western colonialism, Vietnamese’s nationalists took refuge in Japan and sought inspiration from Japan’s economic development and resistance to the West.
In another hand following up the occupation of Viet Nam by the imperial army during the Pacific War and the utilisation of the Okinawa base by the American B-52's bombers during the Vietnam war, Tokyo has been perceived as an enemy.
Today there is a rapprochement between the two countries and a convergence of their cultural models. The authors take us along the path of this mutation which, in a way, marks the emergence of a new Asia.
The authors
Guy FAURE has studied at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Nagoya University, and Chuo University. He holds a Phd in Politics from EHESS Paris (1982) and is presently Director of the French Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC) in Bangkok, and Research Fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Laurent SCHWAB has a PhD in macroeconomics from the University of Paris IV (The Sorbonne) and has lived 14 years in Southeast Asia, mainly in Thailand and Vietnam. He has worked for the United Nations (ESCAP) and as a consultant and educator.
IRASE
The Institut de recherche sur l’Asie du Sud-Est contemporaine(Irasec- Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia) has been studying since 2001 the political, social and environmental changes taking place in the eleven countries of the region. The Bangkok based Institute seeks the collaboration of researchers from all universities and in all fields whenever their expertise is required. It encourages a transversal approach as far as possible.
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30/12/14
from 01/04/12 to 31/03/13
