Hiroko Ford on how she came, and then returned, to live in Oxford

I am Hiroko Ford from Osaka in Japan. I first came to Oxford 30 years ago on a school trip when I was 18. It was the first time I had been abroad and I was so impressed with Oxford — the space, the greenery, the buildings, but most of all the people.

So, although I returned home and got a good job at the Bank of Japan, I never forgot my time there and really wanted to come back.

In 1995 the Kobe earthquake hit Japan. I woke up to find all my books falling on top of my face and the house was shaking. I thought it was going to fall down and that we would all die. My father told me it was an earthquake.

Kobe, the next-door city fared much worse and afterwards I realised that I could easily have died and resolved to do what I really wanted to do in life, that you never know what’s going to happen and you only get one life. So I left my job and came to Oxford to study English.

My parents cried when I left and told me to come back soon and not to get married. I lived in a shared house in Headington to start with, alongside two Korean girls and was very happy. I really enjoyed it and didn’t want to go home.

Once I had settled here, one of my new friends asked me if I was interested in working on Saturdays at the Plain Leather Shop. She was leaving and I took over her job.

This is how I met my future husband Albert Ford. He was from Brooklyn, New York and was a leather craftsman. He had started his business by selling his own handcrafted goods at Oxpens Market and opened his first shop in Cowley in 1972.

For many years we ran a shop together in the Golden Cross in central Oxford, and were very happy, but sadly Albert died two years ago, just before we were due to open a new shop in Turl Street.

A month after he passed away, I closed the Golden Cross shop as I felt that I couldn’t cope with the pressure and the thought of not seeing Albert there.

I was at a crossroads in my life and my parents wanted me to go back to Japan with my daughter. I didn’t know what to do — I wanted to open the shop in Turl Street but didn’t have the confidence.

It was my daughter, Masako, who convinced me to open. She said that her dad had told her that I could do anything if I believed in myself.

He had wanted to open the shop in Turl Street so that’s what we should now do and she would help me.

Consequently, I opened up on Turl Street four months later.

We have now been open in Oxford for long enough (42 years) to have attracted three generations of customers from some families, and have many local customers, as well as tourists from all over the world.

Occasionally we get the odd famous face, and Albert met Elizabeth Taylor, Victoria Wood, and Jeremy Irons.

My biggest surprise came two years ago when the King of Bhutan walked in through the door! That was very special.

Oxford is a very diverse city, as so many people from all over the world live and study here. I love meeting people from so many different countries and there is an enormous Japanese community in Oxford who meet up regularly.

The first time I came to Oxford, I fell in love with the city and have been living in Oxford for 18 years now, and yet I still feel the same way about it.

Coming into town every day, I just love to be here. So although I still go back to Japan to visit, I can’t wait to come back to Oxford, my home.