On August 24, 2026, VNU Vietnam Japan University (VJU), held a seminar on Rural Surveys in Nam Dinh at My Dinh Campus, bringing together scholars, experts, and students from the Master’s Program in Area Studies (MAS).
The seminar was held as VJU faculty members, students, and international experts undertook fieldwork in the Bach Coc village area, in the former Nam Dinh Province (now part of Ninh Binh), a site that has been closely associated with Vietnam-Japan collaboration in rural studies since the 1990s.
Opening the seminar, Prof. Dr. Momoki Shiro, lecturer in VJU’s Master’s Program in Area Studies and a JICA expert, introduced the Kyoto School’s approach to the study of rural Vietnam. He highlighted the integration of ecology, agricultural studies, and history, as well as the role of interdisciplinary fieldwork in examining both the past and present of a rural community.
The seminar continued with a presentation by Prof. Dr. Yanagisawa Masayuki of Kyoto University, Japan, on Vietnam-Japan collaboration in long-term, comprehensive research on rural Nam Dinh since 1994. Through the Bach Coc Village Research Project, researchers have conducted periodic socio-economic surveys, developed cartographic records, and shared findings through specialized publications. Data collected over several decades have also provided insights into the transformation of rural life in Vietnam amid industrialization.
From another perspective, Dr. Jo Ho-yeon of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, South Korea, introduced research methods based on Vietnamese Hán-Nôm documents, shedding light on the structures of Vietnamese villages and lineages in the 18th and 19th centuries. Sources including genealogies, steles, and land records were also examined comparatively alongside materials on rural communities in Japan and Korea.
The seminar provided a multicultural space for academic exchange, with the Japanese and Korean speakers delivering their presentations in Vietnamese, while discussions among experts and students took place in Vietnamese, Japanese, and English. This multilingual exchange offered diverse academic and cultural perspectives on the study of rural Vietnam.
By combining academic discussion with fieldwork experience, the seminar gave MAS students an opportunity to learn directly from experts and apply research knowledge and methodologies in practice. It also contributed to VJU’s multicultural learning environment, where issues related to Vietnam are examined and discussed from diverse academic perspectives.
