I was born in a small city so far from any airports that, when I was a school boy, I didn’t imagine exactly what ‘abroad’ mean. Though learning foreign language was a regular program of my school, many of students probably didn’t know the reason and I was not uncommon. Consequently I learned how to read English text as just like a procedure and didn’t how to make a conversation with people from abroad. As time went by, needless to say, I became conscious of my narrow perspectives and some of my colleague are working in other countries. Today, I lives in Yokohama, one of the biggest and typical international port cities in Japan, and thinks time to time how was the first people started their international trading here. The harbor was just a beach of a small fishing village 160 years ago and not it has a huge pier which large passenger boat like QE-II of Cunard Line can dock at.
In response to the weekly photo challenge, Admiration by The Daily Post.
l'atelier tanu | tagnoue 
Where were you originally from?
I was born in Tochigi pref, 100km far from Tokyo. One of the most famous place is Nikko but my home town is far also from Nikko.
私も田舎で生まれ育ちtagnoueさんと同じような心境でした。
保守的なオヤジではありますが北米に来た理由の一つは、日本の田舎では体験できなかった様々な国の方々と”ごく普通に”生活したかったのです。英語を共通言語として・・・（でも私の英語はまだまだですけど＾＾；）
懐かしい横浜の光景です。私の中では30年前の横浜ですが＾＾；港から船の汽笛やカモメの鳴き声が聞こえてくるアパートにいました。本当に懐かしいです。
私は自分が田舎の狭い世界で育ったことに気付くまでに時間をかけすぎました。育った文化と異なる場所に普通に身を置けるのはすばらしいと思います。