1 ISSUE: 2021 No. 31 ISSN 2335-6677 RESEARCHERS AT ISEAS – YUSOF ISHAK INSTITUTE ANALYSE CURRENT EVENTS Singapore | 16 March 2021 Vietnam-Japan Relations: Growing Importance in Each Other’s Eyes Huynh Tam Sang* Japan’s Prime Minister Suga’s visit further accelerates Japan’s strategy of looking at Vietnam as an “attractive alternate destination for Japanese companies exiting China”, which has been in the works for some time. Here, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (3rd L) and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc (2nd R) visit the late President Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House in Hanoi on October 19, 2020. Photo: Minh HOANG, POOL, AFP. * Guest writer, Huynh Tam Sang, is Lecturer at the Faculty of International Relations and Research Fellow of Center for International Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He is also a member of the International Relations Studies Research Group, Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology.