Rising early, moving quickly: My time in Vietnam by Qudan Rie

Akutagawa Prize laureate Qudan Rie traveled to Vietnam in November 2025 for events in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, marking the publication in Vietnamese of her prizewinning novel, Sympathy Tower Tokyo. The work has garnered attention at home and abroad for its use of AI-generated text.

Book Launch Events by Qudan Rie in Two Cities in Vietnam

During her visit, Qudan participated in celebratory events for her first Vietnamese edition and also held discussions with Vietnamese artists of her generation. This was Qudan’s third time in the country, a place she had enjoyed exploring on her own years before becoming a writer.

Qudan contributed her reflections in this essay, translated for us from the Japanese by Sympathy Tower Tokyo translator Jesse Kirkwood.

Rising early, moving quickly: My time in Vietnam by Qudan Rie