Japan emperor's Vietnam visit a sign of improved ties
HANOI, VIETNAM — When Nguyen ThiXuan said goodbye to her Japanese husband in 1954, she thought he was going off for a year or two on another long assignment. She never imagined it would be more than half a century before she'd see him again.
Like many Vietnamese women married to Japanese soldiers, Xuan's family was split up, victimized by the stormy relationship between the countries.
Today, the former foes enjoy strong bilateral ties, with Japan and Vietnam cooperating economically as well as in other areas, including defense and security.
In a sign of just how far the relationship has come, several surviving widows and families of former Japanese soldiers — including Xuan — will have an opportunity to meet with Japanese Emperor Akihito when he visits Vietnam for WKH ¿UVW WLPH WKLV ZHHN
Japanese troops invaded Vietnam in 1940 and remained there until Japan surrendered to the allies in 1945, ending World War II. Xuan's husband, however, was among some 700 Japanese soldiers who remained in Vietnam after revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh declared independence from French colonial rule in 1945.
The Japanese soldiers helped train Ho Chi Minh's 9LHW 0LQK WR ¿JKW WKH French. But after the Viet Minh defeated the colonial forces in 1954, Xuan's husband was one of 71 former Japanese soldiers who had to leave the communist North without being able to bring their families, because Japan was on the other side of the Cold War. He left behind his two children and his pregnant 29-year-old wife.
"I thought he was on an assignment for one or two years, but we then had no information about him," Xuan, 92, said recently.