Notice and Invitation — 80th Anniversary Memorial for Phan Boi Chau

Dear compatriots,

In the spring of 1905, Sao Nam Phan Boi Chau, together with his comrades Dang Tu Kinh and Tang Bat Ho, traveled four months from Vietnam to Japan in search of a path to liberate their homeland from French colonial rule. Their efforts did not bear all the fruit they had hoped for, but their patriotism and resolve in the struggle for national independence have been inscribed in our history and remain an enduring moral example shining in the hearts of Vietnamese people.

Unlike Vietnamese communities in other countries around the world, the Vietnamese community in Japan is fortunate to inherit an extraordinarily valuable spiritual and material legacy left here by Phan Boi Chau and the Dong Du movement. The spiritual legacy is a luminous example of patriotism and the struggle for national independence. Material highlights include the grave of the patriot Tran Dong Phong, the stele Phan Boi Chau erected in gratitude to Dr. Asaba Sakitaro, the letters exchanged between Phan Boi Chau and Japanese and Chinese statesmen, and many other historical documents and sites (some discovered, some still to be uncovered) that Phan Boi Chau and the young members of the Dong Du movement left during their time in Japan.

By a turn of fate, 100 years after Phan Boi Chau’s arrival in Japan, our Vietnamese community in Japan has taken root and grown larger by the year. If we cherish, preserve, and make use of the legacies our forebears left us, our spiritual lives will become richer and more meaningful — and these legacies can help bind us closer together, so that the Vietnamese community in Japan can grow sustainably and flourish far into the future.

This year, October 29 marks exactly 80 years since the passing of Phan Boi Chau. To create an occasion to remember his legacy, to remind one another of the responsibility of following in our forebears’ footsteps and continuing his and the Dong Du movement’s vision of national independence and renewal, the Vietnamese Association in Japan plans to hold the “80th Anniversary Memorial for Phan Boi Chau” with the following details:

– Date and time: Saturday, October 31, 2020, from 5:00 PM

– Venue: Rokugo Chiikiryoku Suishin Center (六郷地域力推進センター)

東京都大田区仲六郷 2-44-11 (Ohta-ku, Naka-Rokugou 2-44-11)

2 minutes’ walk from Zoshiki Station (雑色駅) on the Keikyu Line

– Program:

(1) The 80th anniversary memorial ceremony

(2) Introduction to Phan Boi Chau’s vision for national independence and renewal

(3) Roundtable discussion on the Dong Du movement — past and present

(4) Introduction to the formation and work of the Phan Boi Chau Academic Committee

The Vietnamese Association in Japan warmly invites you to join us. We hope as many compatriots as possible will attend, so that together we can renew our commitment to live up to the example of Phan Boi Chau and the founders of the Dong Du movement.

Tokyo, October 5, 2020

Vietnamese Association in Japan