At this year's Tokyo International Film Festival, a seminar organised by the Việt Nam Film Development Association and the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan made a case that should interest more than just cinephiles: film is becoming one of the strongest cultural bridges between Việt Nam and Japan, and the locations on screen are part of the appeal.

VFDA chairwoman Ngô Phương Lan argued that the most exportable Vietnamese stories are not postcard images but intimate ones — how families handle loss, duty and memory. She pointed to the classic When the Tenth Month Comes, in which a woman hides her husband's death in the war to protect her elderly father-in-law, as an example of a deeply Vietnamese story that lands emotionally anywhere.

Japanese buyers seem to agree. Takashi Yoshida of distributor Sai Pro said his company picked up Japanese rights to Tunnel: Sun in the Dark after its Tokyo festival selection, and that Japanese audiences are increasingly curious about emerging markets, especially Southeast Asia. What draws him most? Not just action or horror, but cultural encounters — weddings, funerals, family meals — everyday scenes that let viewers discover another society in familiar ways.

The archive side matters too. Fukuoka City Public Library Film Archive holds 69 Vietnamese films spanning the 1960s to the 2020s, and director Phan Đăng Di said six or seven new Vietnamese titles are now submitted each year. Fukuoka has also run its ASIA FOCUS festival since 1991, giving curious travellers in Japan an easy way to see Vietnamese cinema on a big screen.

There's a tourism engine underneath all of this. Ruriko Sekine of the Japan Film Commission noted Japan has roughly 400 film commissions helping productions navigate permits and locations — and that filming brings immediate spending on hotels, food and transport, while released films can turn locations into visitor draws. Her advice: build filming-location maps, run film-themed tours and bring directors and actors out to meet fans. Vietnam Fest in Kanagawa, running since 2015 and reaching its 10th edition in September 2026, plus the opera about Princess Anio and merchant Araki Sotaro in 17th-century Hội An, show how deep the two countries' cultural exchange already runs.

Why should a traveller care? Because films are increasingly the reason people pick a destination. If Japanese audiences fall for Vietnamese family dramas and Hà Nội's light and street energy — as cinematographer Sven Zellner praised on the panel — expect more film-location itineraries, festival screenings and themed tours linking the two countries. For anyone planning a Vietnam trip, watching films like Tunnel: Sun in the Dark is a surprisingly good way to scout the atmosphere before booking; and Japan's festival circuit, from Tokyo to Fukuoka, is worth timing a visit around if you want cinema with your sightseeing.