Photo/Illutration Hiroshi Hikawa visits Hanoi in February during a trip to recruit young Vietnamese for a Japanese scholarship program for newspaper deliverers. (Yoshihiro Makino)

Hiroshi Hikawa is affectionately known as “Father” by more than 3,000 needy Vietnamese students who have come to Japan to study Japanese and pursue higher education through a newspaper scholarship program.

Hikawa, 77, understands the challenges these students face.

After graduating from evening high school in Hokkaido, he moved to Tokyo and supported himself by delivering newspapers through a similar scholarship program while attending university.

He continued his career in newspaper distribution, eventually becoming a sales agent manager at 26 and working at sales agents across Tokyo and surrounding areas.

A life-changing trip to Vietnam in 1994 exposed Hikawa to the plight of street children and ignited a desire to provide opportunities for young people to learn and work.

In 2002, he started recruiting students for the Asahi Scholarship Program, which supports newspaper deliverers by providing tuition fees and free dormitory accommodations in addition to a monthly salary for the job.

Hikawa personally visits high schools in remote, self-sufficient communities in Vietnam.

“I don’t want to be a broker who just takes a fee,” he said. “I want to create opportunities for underprivileged young people eager to learn.”

Although he retired as a sales agent manager in 2008, he still spends up to four months a year in Vietnam for recruitment.

Upon arriving in Japan, scholarship recipients spend the first two years at a language school before attending university or vocational school. They send money back home to their families in Vietnam.

They typically stay in Japan for five to six years before finding employment in Vietnam, often with Japanese companies or in the tourism sector.

Some students struggle to adapt and return home early. Hikawa also occasionally receives calls from worried parents. But he remains committed to his role.

“I am their parent figure,” he says. “I am the only one who can help them.”

Recent economic development in Vietnam has led to growing inequality.

Hikawa is often asked by local coordinators to focus on even more impoverished regions. He sometimes travels for six hours on unpaved roads to reach remote areas.

Despite the challenges, Hikawa plans to continue his work until he turns 80, driven by a deep commitment to providing life-changing opportunities to Vietnamese youth.

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