Many Vietnamese people bravely fought and died in the fight to defend the northern border 40 years ago. With the conscience of a journalist, Japanese writer Isayo Takano was taken down while he was working in the border province of Lang Son. While he did not survive the battle, his photos remained immortal.
This photo was taken on March 7, 1979, just before Isayo Takano died at Lang Son battlefield. Takano was a special rapporteur, a reporter of the Japanese Akahata (Red Flag, the Japanese Communist Party’s mouthpiece) and one of the few foreign journalists present at the north Vietnamese border battlefield at that time.
Takano shot the photograph as part of a collection that revealed the fact that the warring forces had not really stopped firing, despite announcing their withdrawal from Vietnam on March 5.
The death of the Japanese journalist sparked a wave of outrage in Vietnamese and international opinion. Writers and film makers brought his image into their works, including the film "Thi xa trong tam tay " (Town within hand) by director Dang Nhat Minh.
Inspired by the sacrifice of Takano, poet Anh Ngoc, after attending his funeral, wrote a poem to the journalist’s daughter, entitled “To Emy Takano”.
The violent gunfire will be forgotten
Only that quiet voice still remains
The persistent sound of the finger pressing the camera
Mingling into the heartbeat ...
The story of journalist Takano is still remembered by the people of Lang Son and those who had gone through the northern border protection war./.
