Published at 16:26, Friday, 20 July 2012

A BUSINESS group has called for greater links with the Land of the Rising Sun to boost business in Barrow.

BARROW LINK: The Mikasa. Japanese tourists have been known to make a journey over to Walney Island to see Mikasa Street.

By Gareth Jones

The Boosting Barrow and Furness Group wants Barrow to be twinned with a town in Japan to strengthen trade between the two areas.

Chairman of the group, Tim Bell, said Barrow’s traditional links with the country could aide business and tourism in Furness.

He said: “There is a lot of Japanese connections in the area. The Japanese war ship, the Mikasa, was built in Barrow.

“We get a lot of Japanese people coming into the Lake District and they are very interested in things like Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter.

“There is also the technology aspect in that the Japanese don’t have their own energy resources.

“This would be a good opportunity for us to work closely with them. To have people we can learn from and to widen our horizons would be a good thing.

“If you look at Liverpool, they have just teamed up with Shanghai, who are building a massive marina development. It would make sense if we could have a partnership with somewhere in Japan.”

Several ships used by the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese war were built in Barrow.

In March 2004, the former Japanese ambassador, His Excellency Masaki Orita, visited Barrow to mark the centenary of the war.

He saw a model of the Barrow-built Japanese battleship the Katori and was shown Mikasa Street. He also saw a Japanese ivory sword stored in Barrow Library, which was presented to the town by Admiral Togo after the yard built three battleships and two submarines for Japan.

Assistant director of community services at Barrow Borough Council Keith Johnson said there are no plans for a link with a Japanese town – but that could change.

He said: “Barrow Borough Council has no plans to twin with a town in Japan.

“There has been no real appetite from elected members for this to happen.

“If there was a pressing demand from residents for this to happen it is something elected members would look at.”

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk