The statue of late President Hồ Chí Minh in Japan’s Mimasaka City. — VNA/VNS Photos

HÀ NỘI — The long-standing connection with Việt Nam and shared respect for late President Hồ Chí Minh, act as a foundation for progress in Việt Nam-Japan relationship, said Mayor Hagiwara Seiji of Japan’s Mimasaka City.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Hagiwara said President Hồ Chí Minh stood as a role model for the Vietnamese virtues of honesty and diligence. 

Noting how he learned of the late Vietnamese President during the Vietnam War, Hagiwara said that the name Hồ Chí Minh has long been familiar to generations of Japanese people and is revered alongside other great figures of the world. 

Hagiwara Seiji, mayor of Mimasaka City, speaks to Vietnam News Agency.

Mimasaka is home to the first statue of President Hồ Chí Minh in Japan, which sees numerous tourists from Japan and abroad visiting to pay their respects every year. 

The city also has a Vietnamese community of around 400 people, who play an important role in people-to-people exchanges.

Mimasaka has established partnerships with the Việt Nam’s University of Đà Nẵng and HCM City University of Technology for human resource development, as well as a sister city agreement with Yên Bái Province. 

Since the beginning of 2025, two Vietnamese nationals have begun working at Mimasaka City Hall. 

Mimasaka is hoping to enhance cooperation with Yên Bái in training, dispatching and receiving nursing staff, in addition to boosting tourism activities. 

In the long term, the mayor emphasised facilitating conditions for the Vietnamese community in Mimasaka, and expressed confidence that the profound affection for late President Hồ Chí Minh and Việt Nam will be the sound basis for future progress in bilateral relations. — VNS