From “Ideal Social Model” to Reality

Abstract

This paper examines the development of Vietnamese studies in post–World War II Japan. During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese studies in Japan was developed by a young generation of academics who were shocked by war coverage. Some of these scholars viewed Vietnamese society and its nationalist spirit as their “ideal social model,” and dedicated themselves to research topics centered on Vietnam’s rural society, revolution, and nationalism. However, when fieldwork became possible in the 1990s after the Đổi Mới reforms, research subjects became diversified among scholars who came after the Vietnam War generation as they encountered the country’s diverse realities.