VietNamNet Bridge –A Japanese photographer has donated 77 photos of Agent Orange victims he took around Viet Nam to HCM City's War Remnants Museum in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the National Day for Vietnamese Dioxin Victims, August 10.

Remnants: Nishimura Yoichi presents gifts to Agent Orange victims at the War Remnants Museum in HCM City. (Photo: VNS)
Nishimura Yoichi, who has held several photo exhibitions on the aftermath of the Viet Nam War, Nishimura Yoichi spent more than 10 years travelling around the country to capture the images of AO victims.

"I have travelled from north to south to take photos and listen to victims' stories," Yoichi said.

His course was decided in 1975 when he met Dr Ton That Tung in France and received a book about Viet Nam's AO victims and heard about the deformed foetuses and children.

Then he visited the country, researched about the victims, and wrote books. The 69 year-old had one of his books, Agent Orange of Viet Nam, published in Japanese.

"After seeing the children and foetuses in jars during my first trip to Viet Nam in 2001, I was deeply impressed.

"I feel sympathy for Vietnamese AO victims who are in the same situation as Japanese victims of the atomic bombs."

In the past he has donated many of his photos and held exhibitions at the museum along with another photographer, Yasufumi Murayama.

Yoichi was born in 1942 in Osaka and moved with his family to Awaji island in 1945.

Between 1961 and 1974 his family settled down first in Osaka and then in Nagano, the capital of Nagano Prefecture on Honshu Island.

From 1974 to 2003 he was a high-school teacher in Awaji before retiring to study the American War in Viet Nam and Vietnamese AO victims.

From 2004 to 2007 he lived in HCM City and taught Japanese and math to AO child victims at Tu Du Hospital's Peace Village.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News