PANO - The Thua Thien-Hue provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Department of External Relations and Vietnam-Japan Friendship Organization, on June 7th, organized a ceremony to receive the memorial stele of patriot scholar Phan Boi Chau from by the Asaba Association and Japanese benefactors, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties and Vietnam-Japan Year.

The stele presentation aims to show the affection of Japanese people for the Vietnamese patriot scholar, reaffirm and promote the solidarity between Vietnam and Japan in general, and the friendship between Vietnam's Thua Thien-Hue province and Japan's Fukuroi city in particular. 

The stele, with a picture of Phan Boi Chau, the founder of the Dong Du movement, and local people in Asaba Umeda, taken in March 1918, is erected near the Phan Boi Chau statue on the Huong river bank.

During hard times, the Dong Du movement which aimed to send Vietnamese youth to Japan for further educational training so that they could return to Vietnam and restore the country’s independence from the French colonialists received great support from Japanese Doctor Asaba Sakitaro.

After returning to his homeland in 1918, Phan Boi Chau visited Japan again and learnt that Dr. Asaba Sakitaro had passed away. To commemorate and show deep gratitude to Dr. Sakitaro’s contributions, Phan Boi Chau and local people in Fukuroi‘s Asaba Umeda village raised funds to build a stone memorial. 

Translated by Tran Hoai