“If you don’t use it you lose it!”. If you are a language learner you may have heard this said to you by your teacher. This phrase is sadly true - I can speak from experience. I have studied 4 foreign languages, Japanese being my most proficient (I believe). But since leaving Japan nearly 20 years ago, I have had little opportunity to practise speaking the language, apart from with a couple of Japanese students I taught here in Bath, who were kind enough to chat to me and listen to my broken sentences!
But perhaps there is some hope! I recently learned that my home city of Bath here in the south west of England is a sister city with the Japanese city of Beppu in the north eastern corner of Kyushu island. Whilst living in Japan, I didn’t get the chance to visit the island but after a Google search, I can see the two cities have their natural hot springs in common. Though with 150 different places to bathe in the hot springs, Beppu certainly wins as Bath has only a couple of places where you can access its waters at the Thermae Bath Spa and The Gainsborough Hotel. Beppu also has the rather dramatically named “Hells of Beppu”, hot springs only meant for viewing and one of the mountains is named ‘monster mountain hell’ because of the number of crocodiles kept and bred there! No crocodiles in Bath (not that I know of) - thank goodness!
However, Bath does have some beautiful green parks, one of which is Alice Park. It is here that an avenue of Japanese Kanzan cherry trees was planted in 2022. They have now established themselves and on Sunday 8th September 2024, two plaques were unveiled by the mayor of Bath to mark the friendship between the two cities. It was great to see the English plaque and the Japanese translation next to it. I was quite pleased that I was still able to recognise the meaning of some of the kanji (Chinese) characters used.
Also in attendance were members of the Bath and Beppu Friendship Association, some of the ladies were dressed in yukata (a type of light kimono). I was there because my partner is connected to a Bath volunteer group that organises Bath tree trails and maps for local residents and tourists. I took the opportunity to speak to one of the Japanese ladies who was taking photos of the plaques. She handed me her business card when I explained that I used to live in Japan and missed speaking Japanese. It turns out that the Friendship Association meet at an Izakaya (tapas style pub) in Bath once a month where members can practise their Japanese conversation and she invited me to pop along one day. I would certainly like to try especially if there is some sake (a Japanese alcoholic drink) flowing!
So I really hope to be able to use it so I won’t lose it (altogether)!
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