ITEMS from the Bowes Museum collection may one day go on show in Japan.

Vivien Reid, exhibitions officer and a Friend of the museum in Barnard Castle, is to spend three months in Tokyo working with the Brain Trust, a major exhibition touring company.

It is hoped this will lead to objects from the Bowes touring Japan in 2005-06.

Through the Friends, the 47-year-old successfully applied for support from the Department of Trade and Industry's international technology secondment programme, with the help of Trade Partners UK's international trade team at Business Link County Durham.

Ms Reid, who returned to the UK two years ago after 20 years in Australia, said: "The Brain Trust has been responsible for some of the most important exhibitions of art to travel to and around Japan. Three years ago, it made an initial inquiry to the Bowes about the possibility of taking some of the museum's treasures to Japan.

"Unfortunately, the subsequent economic downturn over there prevented it, but interest in the idea and the connection between the two institutions was maintained.

"One of the key future areas of development at the Bowes is for a national and international touring exhibition programme. The secondment, and the experience it will give me regarding all aspects of touring, will be invaluable in achieving this goal."

She will fly to Japan in February, and to prepare herself for the trip has begun a crash course in Japanese language and culture at Teikyo University, Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Durham, with the help of tutor Junko Ogawa.

She plans to build on existing links with the Brain Trust and make contact with other art museums in Japan and fellow curators, with a view to ultimately developing an exhibition of objects from the Bowes in two or three years' time.

* The Bowes Museum is to form part of a new regional hub for the delivery of museum services in the North-East announced by the Government this month.

It will be led by Tyne and Wear Museums, partnered by Beamish, the Bowes and Hartlepool museums.

England is to get nine regional hubs that will form a national administrative framework for regional museums and galleries financed by £70m. The idea is to encourage museums to work together for the benefit of all.

Adrian Jenkins, director of the Bowes Museum, said: "We look forward to the possibilities that the North-East museum hub promises.

"The Bowes Museum has an internationally acclaimed collection and maintains strong links with the international, national and regional museum community.

"The hub initiative will enable us to offer even better services not only to the public, but also to other museums in the region. Partnership with Tyne and Wear, Beamish and Hartlepool museums will most certainly lead to better museums, better managed and enjoyed by many more people across the whole of the region.