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

Artist Suzuki Yasumasa came to Vietnam under the program of Connected book week – Ehon Week, organized by the North Bridge Foundation under the sponsorship of the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam and the Japanese 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 merciful

Mr. Suzuki Yasumasa is an illustrator of many Japanese Ehon comics. In it, his original paintings illustrated two comic books Cosette sparrow , and Snail sadness exhibited at the Center Cultural Exchange Japan.

The artist had many exchanges 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 are still pregnant. war wounds Even though the war was decades away, the artist found his answer.

He reasoned that it was because the Vietnamese people had gone through years of war and post-war suffering, still rising above that suffering with infinite love and tolerance, even though those wounds still linger. Many people like him 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 Vietnamese people today. Just like the story in a picture book Snail sadness which he is an illustrator.

Believe Vietnamese authors will create great works

Comic book Snail sadness tells the story of the sadness hidden within each of us. Like a snail who one day suddenly realized in panic that perhaps the colorful shell on his back was filled with sadness.

The snail crawled away complaining about this to many other snails. They all answered him that they had the same sadness as him.

Finally, the snail realized that everyone was sad, 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 our human qualities. The more pain we experience, the more we develop strong, profound 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 country's sadness of war, as well as the sadness of each individual, to create great works.

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