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Michelle Hinatsu – Port Dover, ON
Michelle spent three years in the JET programme as an English teacher in Kubota, a small community, in Saga-ken, Japan. She was born in Port Dover, Ontario to a father who is of Japanese ancestry and a French Canadian mother. Her father, a sansei who was interned in New Denver, moved to Ontario after the war. Being of mixed ancestry in a small community that had very few Japanese, Michelle faced difficulty growing up. She felt that she was different and had a strong yearning towards her Japanese heritage. She had always wanted to go to Japan and the JET program gave her the opportunity. She said it was strange because at times she felt more Japanese and at other times a foreigner. People told her that she was just like the Japanese because her mannerism, things that are handed down from parents and grandparents and these traits seem to surface when you least expect it. She became immersed in the culture and language and joined a taiko group. One of the joys of her experience in Japan was learning enough Japanese to converse with her grandmother, something the others in her family could not do. Michelle convinced her father to visit Japan although reluctant but the experience had such a profound affect on her father that he couldn’t thank her enough. Michelle is currently teaching grades 1 to 3 in a remote First Nations community called Kingeone Inlet on the north-west coast of British Columbia.
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