Derbyshire County Council and Toyota City Council in Aichi Prefecture continue to develop their relationship with a new website launched by both authorities giving information to Japanese visitors on using Derbyshire as the base to explore the Peak District. The new website not only celebrates the enduring and increasingly active relationship between the two linked councils, but is part of efforts by Toyota City and its Derbyshire partners, including Derby City Council and South Derbyshire District Council to invigorate economic partnerships between the two areas in our respective countries. A recent trade visit by the three Derbyshire authorities linked to Toyota launched the website at trade fairs in the city, where Derbyshire representatives looked to create further economic partnerships and investment opportunities for companies in the Aichi area and Derbyshire.
The website was developed with Toyota City Council staff member Mr. Takashi Hirata, who spent time at DCC County Hall in Matlock helping staff from the council and the Peak District National Park create web pages in Japanese for a specific Japanese audience, as part of a staff exchange programme between the two councils. The website features all the Peak District has to offer visitors to Derbyshire from Japan, with information on sites and events sure to appeal to citizens from the partner authority area, and from wider Japan. Hirata san thinks that in particular the Peak District is distinctly attractive for its beautiful countryside, as well as the history and refinement of Chatsworth House, as it offers the chance for Japanese to get to understand British history and the role of the aristocracy. The gardens there in particular will appeal to the Japanese visitor.
There are many points in common between the two areas despite being separated by the continents, and the staff exchange has offered Hirata-san the opportunity to learn a lot and take back ideas from Derbyshire which can be put to use in the City of Toyota. In particular the links between the fire services in both areas are growing and the conservation of green spaces and new forests is something that both areas are interested in fostering some common learning. Both areas also obviously have very strong common links in the automobile industry and manufacturing, with very similar issues facing the regions which local authorities in both countries are dealing with.
Toyota City and Derbyshire this year celebrate 15 years of the twinning link, which has been born out of Toyota Motors locating their UK manufacturing base at Burnaston in the county, and has led to a municipal link supporting a wide variety of exchanges between the two areas, such as trade visits, staff exchanges between the two authorities and a regular student exchange for local young people.
Derbyshire and Toyota’s relationship is one of example of continuing enduring links with real economic focus and benefits for the UK and Japanese counterpart authorities, with others including Gateshead Council’s link with Komatsu City out of Komatsu Corporation’s investment in the area and the building machinery factory on Tyneside. Other examples include the Kyoto Prefecture – City of Edinburgh link, originally based on World Heritage Status of both cities, which has since developed into a wide variety of activities from schools and cultural exchanges to recent academic and economic development agreements between universities and biotech companies in both areas as a result of a visit by Kyoto Governor Yamada last year, and a reaffirmation of the Kyoto-Edinburgh link which is now 25 years old.
Derbyshire County Council’s Peak District information in Japanese can be seen here
