(VOVworld) - Living and working in Vietnam for eleven years, Ando Katsuhiro, an expert on culture and tourism development, has grown to love this country. Over the years, he has researched Vietnam’s ancient architecture and helped rural people develop community tourism. He says he wants cultural heritage and the beauty of Vietnamese villages to become attractive to both domestic and foreign visitors. .

At the first meeting, Ando Katsuuhiro is easy going and friendly. His countenance and gentle voice attracted me to his story about his work in Vietnam. Ando said his life and work there is fate as what Vietnamese people often say. Ando says ‘I discovered Vietnam as in primary school. In my mind, 30 years ago, Vietnam was a country of war. In fact, when I studied secondary school, I learned from books and lectures that Vietnam was at war.  I first came to Vietnam in 2001, and perceived something entirely different’.

Ando still remembered that the first part of his trip in Vietnam was the ancient town of Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam. He participated in projects to restore ancient houses there. His unforgettable impressions about this place were the friendly faces of the locals and the tranquil atmosphere. Hoi An has changed since then but local people remain the most outstanding identity of the town.  He recalls ‘I have traveled to about 40 provinces and cities across Vietnam but Hoi An is still the place I like most. It’s not simply the first place I came, but after years when I came back people still remembered me and called me ‘Ando oi’. I stayed here a long time. I know of no similar place in Japan’.

After Hoi An, Ando continued with other restoration projects in Phuoc Tich Village in Hue, Cai Be in Tien Giang, and Duong Lam in Hanoi. Duong Lam is an ancient village where many characteristics typical to  northern rural villages are maintained. In 2005, as soon as Duong Lam was recognized as a national heritage site, more and more visitors have flocked there. Ando and his Japanese and Vietnamese colleagues are working together to fully restore the ancient houses and develop community tourism in Duong Lam.

Ando has worked with tour guides of the village’s Management Board to create tourism maps for the surveyed areas. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a tour guide of Duong Lam village, says ‘Through surveys of relics in the village, we realize that there are many unexcavated vestiges including two shrines in Dong Sang village. At the center of MongPhu village, there is not a village shrine, but a lot of ancient houses characterized by civil and military mandarins’.

Nguyen Hang Nga has accompanied Ando in survey trips ‘I studied tourism in Japan so there’re lot things I haven’t yet understood about Vietnam’s tourism. Working with Ando, I’ve learnt a great deal. I’m surprised that while Ando is a Japanese, he understands Vietnamese values that even many Vietnamese people don’t’.

Ando’s love for Vietnam has inspired enthusiasm in his Vietnamese colleagues. Working for the Vietnam Administration of Tourism, Nam has cooperated with Ando and they have become friends. Nam says ‘I met Ando when I returned home a year ago. I found Ando’s enthusiasm and love for Vietnam and its heritage inspiring Ando and I have a common interest of developing regional tourism, so we have cooperated as colleagues and friends. He has helped communities to protect and develop their heritages, but also the Administration to implement many market research programs and tourism promotion in Japan. We are speeding up the establishment of a Vietnamese tourism office in Japan’.

When asked what else in Vietnam attracts him, Ando says ‘When I don’t have to work, I like to sit in a café to sip coffee and look out to see people going about their lives. I love the rhythm here as the life in Japan is always busy’.

Lan Anh