Japanese Artist: Why are Vietnamese people so kind and beautiful?

Painter Suzuki Yasumasa asked the question after about a week in Vietnam, and explained to himself why Vietnamese people are so kind and beautiful through the philosophy of sadness.

Artist Suzuki Yasumasa asked why Vietnamese people are so nice and found the answer himself - Photo: T.DIEU

Artist Suzuki Yasumasa came to Vietnam under the program of Ehon Week, organized by the North Bridge Foundation under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam and the Japan Business Association in Vietnam from October 14 to 22 in Hanoi .

He shared his feelings and thoughts about Vietnamese people .

Through suffering, Vietnamese people become better and more humane.

Mr. Suzuki Yasumasa is an illustrator of many Japanese Ehon comics. His original illustrations for two comic books, Cosette the Sparrow and The Sorrow of a Snail, are exhibited at the Japan Foundation .

The artist had many meetings with readers as well as meetings with Vietnamese people, which made him very touched and wondered "why are Vietnamese people so kind and beautiful?".

And then the observations and reflections after the trip to Huu Nghi village (a village that takes care of wounded soldiers and people infected with Agent Orange), meeting people who still bear the wounds of war even though the war has been over for decades, made the artist find the answer for himself.

He explained that perhaps it was because the Vietnamese people had gone through many painful years of war and post-war, and still rose above those sufferings with infinite love and tolerance, even though those wounds still haunt many people like the ones he met in Huu Nghi village.

And it is the sadness, the spirit of accepting and overcoming that sadness that has crystallized into the goodness and kindness of the Vietnamese people today. Just like the story in the comic book The Sadness of the Snail, which he is the illustrator for.

Believe Vietnamese authors will create great works

The comic book The Snail's Sorrow has been published in Vietnam - Photo: T.DIEU

The picture book The Snail's Sadness tells the story of the sadness hidden in each of our shells. Like a snail who suddenly realized one day that the colorful shell on his back was filled with sadness.

The snail went and complained about this to many other snails. All of them replied that they were also sad like him.

Finally, the snail realized that everyone has sadness, not just him, and had to accept his own sadness. He decided to stop complaining and learn to overcome sadness.

"It is sadness that deepens the human qualities in us. The more we experience pain, the more we develop strong, deep qualities within ourselves.

I feel that Vietnamese people really have profound good qualities. I believe that from now on, Vietnamese authors will rise from the sadness of war of the country, as well as the sadness of each individual to create wonderful works.

"I strongly believe in that," said artist Suzuki Yasumasa.

Ehon Week also has many exciting activities to nurture children's love of books as the purpose and mission of the Bac Cau Fund.

These include an exhibition of 100 Ehon comic books including the original Japanese version and Vietnamese translation at the Japanese Embassy office building in Hanoi, book reading sessions for kindergartens, and exchanges between the Japanese Ehon comic book author - Ms. Hideko Nagano and the Vietnamese author - Ms. Pham Thi Hoai Anh...

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