A relief work in commemoration of female Japanese benefactor Junko was inaugurated at the namesake Primary School in Dien Phuoc Commune, Dien Ban Town, Quang Nam Province. 

Illustrative image. (Photo: DNO)

Previously, according to a letter from the Junko Association in Japan asking for permission to install the portrait reliefs and brief biography of Junko Takahashi at the Junko Elementary School, in order to show the increasingly stable and good relationship between the two sides, and the people of Viet Nam - Japan in general.

Up to now, the bas-relief has been completed on a white marble background associated with Junko's portrait and the school's formation process in both Vietnamese and Japanese.

Junko Takahashi is a Japanese native. In 1993, Junko, a then-third-year student of Meiji Gakuin University in Japan, visited Viet Nam with a friend. The duo were stronglu impressed by the beauty of Viet Nam and the hospitality of its people after traveling through the Vietnamese cities of Ha Noi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City.

After becoming aware of the fact that children in low-income Vietnamese families at that time found it hard to access educational opportunities, Junko returned to her hometown in Japan to develop a plan to help poor children.

On December 9, 1993, the cherished plans had to be shelved when a traffic accident took her life.

Junko's father and mother used the money from funerals, insurance, and savings to fulfill their child's wish and financed the construction of a school in Dien Phuoc Commune. The Junko school opened on September 4, 1995 with 2 floors, 8 classrooms, gymnasium, toilets and auxiliary facilities.

The Junko School also naturally became an attraction for Japanese tourists. For the past 25 years, generations of students in the poor commune of Dien Phuoc have followed Takahashi Junko's dream to study hard, and contribute to building a richer and stronger homeland.

Reporting by NGOC QUOC - Translating by A.THU