- What do you like about Vancouver?
- What brought you here?/How long have you been living here?
- What have you been experiencing since you came to Canada.
- What is the hardest thing you have faced living in Canada and what have you learned from it?
- What do you do now?
- What would you like to do?/What would you like to do next?
- What is your belief/motto?
- Editor’s comment
What do you like about Vancouver?
I like that people don’t judge you by your age and gender too much in Vancouver and Canada generally, and people respect individual opinions more. I feel more free compared to Japan.
I guess the norm is different. For example, some people come here wearing jeans even though it says “formal wear” (lol).
There is a wide range of tolerance. That’s what makes life easy for me. I think the frame of reference is much broader because the norm varies from country to country, or from individual to individual.
What brought you here?/How long have you been living here?
I’ve been living here since 2006 May. It’s been 15 years now. I came here to study English and learn about different cultures. I used the working holiday visa.
What have you been experiencing since you came to Canada.
I started working at Donald Market as a cashier in 2006. I spoke very little English.
If the customer asked me ‘How is your life?’ instead of ‘How are you?’ I would panic because I couldn’t understand the meaning of the sentence. I didn’t know there are many ways to say How are you?
After a year of working at the Donald Market, I started to feel more comfortable living in Vancouver. People work to live here and not live to work. I realized this lifestyle suits me.
I enrolled in the Heavy Duty Mechanic course at Vancouver Community College. I chose this course because I like math and hands-on jobs. I was still working at the Donald Market so I was busy studying and working!
After finishing school, I couldn’t get a job because I didn’t have my PRCard so I worked as a manager at Donald Market and I finally got my PR card in 2012. Now, I’ve been working as a Mechanic at Trans Link for 8 years.
What is the hardest thing you have faced living in Canada and what have you learned from it?
Even though I got a good job offer, I couldn’t get the job because I didn’t have a PR Card. It was hard to apply for individual immigrants. I knew it wasn’t an easy process and took a long time but I felt unfairness and frustrations. I almost gave up. I thought my dream would die, but I’d kept telling myself that my priority was obtaining a PR Card, so I focused on working at Donald Market until I received my PR Card.
I learned, don’t give up, you can make it !!
What do you do now?
I am working at Trans Link as a mechanic. We repair and inspect buses.
The percentage of female employees is only 1.5%, and I am the only immigrant woman. I hope I can inspire women and businesses to think wide. I am happy my coworkers are nice people.
What would you like to do?/What would you like to do next?
I like to spend time with my friends, taking care of my plants. I like to do what I want to do at the time. If I don’t feel like doing anything, I won’t do anything.
I also like my job. My new challenge is becoming a manager. I believe that the meaning of working as a female mechanic is to show the world what is possible. I started from ZERO English skills. If I can become a manager, I can encourage others. I could do it, so anyone can do it!!
What is your belief/motto?
It’s going to be OK!
I will do my best to do only what I enjoy and what I want to do. I believe that if you try it, it will turn out all right.
Editor’s comment
These are the key words that came up in my interview with Hanae. During the interview, She often said Do what I want to do ! Her words were unpretentious and I could tell that she was being very honest.
She said she had been focused on the task in front of her, step by step. Then before she knew it, she became what she wanted to be. When you try to do something that seems impossible, people tend to make things more complicated and difficult but when you divide them into small pieces, things become more simple and easy. We all know it’s easy to say, but hard to do. She put it into action. That’s amazing!!
Her motto is “It’s going to be OK.” I think what she really means is “I’ve done all I can do, so it’s going to be OK.” Not “I haven’t taken any action, but It’s going to be OK.”
Hanae is living in the moment. Her peaceful vibe makes everyone around her feel happy.
I am looking forward to the day when Trans Link will have a Japanese female manager in the near future.
