For 34 Summers, Japanese Surgeons Have Returned to Rural Vietnam to Give Children Free Life Changing Surgeries

July 8, 2026

For more than three decades, a team of volunteer medical professionals from Japan has traveled to rural Vietnam with one mission: to give children and adults born with cleft lips and palates a chance at a healthier, happier future, completely free of charge.

Nagato Natsume examines a child at Nguyen Dinh Chieu General Hospital / Credit: CHUNICHI SHIMBUN / Japan Times

What began as a single humanitarian mission has grown into a remarkable tradition of compassion. Since 1993, the Japan Cleft Palate Foundation has returned to Vietnam year after year, performing life changing surgeries for families who otherwise could never afford the specialized care.

This spring, the nonprofit sent 58 volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses, and medical staff from across Japan to Nguyen Dinh Chieu General Hospital in Vinh Long Province, about 90 kilometers south of Ho Chi Minh City. The team spent nine days evaluating patients and performing surgeries that restore not only smiles, but also confidence and opportunity.

For Professor Nagato Natsume, the foundation's executive director, the annual trip has become deeply personal.

"This is my second hometown," he told The Japan Times. "Every time I come here, I feel like I've come home."

Over the past 34 years, Japanese surgeons have performed more than 3,000 cleft surgeries in the country. Their arrival each year is eagerly anticipated by families from across the region.

On the first day of patient consultations, nearly 50 families crowded into a makeshift clinic set up in a hospital hallway, hoping their children would be selected for surgery.

Among those helped this year was a three month old baby boy whose story touched many on the medical team.

During pregnancy, his mother, Le Thibe Trang, learned her unborn son had a cleft lip and palate. Members of her husband's family urged her to end the pregnancy.

Instead, she chose hope.

"I wanted to give birth no matter what," she said through tears. "I was worried because we couldn't afford the treatment. I'm deeply thankful that these Japanese doctors came and performed surgery free of charge."

As another successful mission came to an end, Natsume reflected on what has driven the team's work for more than three decades.

"We want to provide support so that more children can grow up feeling glad they were born."

It is a simple goal that has already changed thousands of lives, one smile at a time.