For many Asian countries, the sea and cultural-economical space of the sea have always played an important role in the development process, and contribute to creating socio-cultural features of that country. Through the historical-cultural approach, view from the sea and area studies, the paper tries to clarify the development process of Vietnam-Japan relationship with specific features of each period and at the same time gives explanations for the interaction between the sea and the land, clarifying the role of the sea in the development process of each country. | Vietnam Social Sciences, No. 3(161) - 2014 VIETNAM – JAPAN RELATIONSHIP A VIEW FROM THE SEA SPACE NGUYEN VAN KIM * Abstract: For many Asian countries, the sea and cultural-economical space of the sea have always played an important role in the development process, and contribute to creating socio-cultural features of that country. Through the historical-cultural approach, view from the sea and area studies, the paper tries to clarify the development process of Vietnam-Japan relationship with specific features of each period and at the same time gives explanations for the interaction between the sea and the land, clarifying the role of the sea in the development process of each country. Key words: Vietnam, Japan, sea, sea cultural space. 1. The sea and sea cultural space Thinking of Japan, a country, a culture which is in the Northeast Asia, it is usually considered that Japan is an island-country. Moreover, when talking about the role of island-country of Japan (as a member of the oriental society), it is obvious that it is not enough if we mention only its geographic position, latitude and altitude. It is also important to address cultural structure and historical features of Japan in its continuous movement and changes. As such, classification of Japan as an oriental country implies not only its geographic position and natural conditions but also the impact of natural environment on its historical and cultural development. On the other hand, it is important to understand Japan in the historical space, cultural and political situation of the region.(1) In fact, not only in Japan, in Northeast as well as in Southeast Asia there are islands and archipelagos with their long history. In the middle age, to the South of Japan there was Kingdoms of Hokuzan, Chuzan, and 46 Nanzan which belonged to Ryukyu(2). In addition, together with Kuril islands in the North (which borders the Far East) and Ogasawara archipelago to the East, to the South of Japan there are also big
