Late historian and People’s Teacher Phan Huy Le has been posthumously awarded the Certificate of Merit from the Japanese Foreign Minister Kono Taro, in recognition of his great contributions to the promotion Vietnam-Japan academic exchange.

• Late historian and People’s Teacher Phan Huy Le

Speaking at a ceremony in Hanoi on July 17, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio said Le is not only a top Vietnamese historian, but also a knowledgeable scholar of Japan-Vietnam relations, and had made great contributions to boosting friendship, trust and mutual understanding between the two countries.

Le’s contributions span a wide range of fields, including his role as a bridge as he was the Vice President of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Association in 1987. 

He participated in many cultural exchange events, including academic research activities of the two countries. The professor made great contributions to clarifying historical ties between Hoi An ancient town and Japan from the 16th century, contributing to building the foundation for the current friendship and relations between the two nations. 

As President of the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences, Le also made significant contributions to academic exchanges between Vietnam and Japan, as well as in training Vietnamese researchers on Japan. 

He successfully led the Vietnam-Japan conference on the 100th anniversary of the movement of Dong Du (Eastern-Country Study Tour) in 2005, and activities to mark the 70 years of the death of the movement’s mastermind Phan Boi Chau, as well as the 100th anniversary of the death of Chau’s Japanese associate Dr. Asaba Sakitaro in 2010. Thanks to these events, the two countries have known about the movement as well as the friendship between the two men, which is also recognized as one of the important achievements in the history of relations between the two countries.

Le paid attention to developing major of Japanese Studies after he was nominated as Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Vietnam National University in 1995.   He has made a great contribution to training researchers in Japan and developing the high-quality education on Japan in Vietnam.

According to Hoang Nhu Lan, Le’s spouse, her husband was aware of the importance of cultural diversity and international academic cooperation. For the promotion of international exchanges in the academic field in Vietnam, he always appreciated the role of cooperation with Japan.

Since the mid-1980s, he built academic cooperation with top Japanese professors, Lan said, adding that over the past 40 years, as a scholar, Professor Le contributed to deepening mutual understanding between the two countries.-VNA