Tomoe

Hello Tomoe I've really enjoyed reading your stories. Thanks for sharing them with us. I can't imagine you smoking but I agree that it is a very easy habit to get into and then so hard to get out of. It's so expensive in Australia so it's lucky that you don't smoke now! Helen

Hi I'm Tomoe I come from Japan. I've been living in Hobart about for nine months. I’m really enjoying living in Tasmania. It is very natural, a historical city and clear air. This is the sort of place that I wanted to live in when I was in Japan. In Japan I used to work for a big company as a customer service manager. I used to teach staff about selling, how to talk with customers and how to assist sales men. It was very hard job because I had to assist staff and customers. The company also had strict traditional company. I spend most my time working for the company. It was a stressful and competitive environment to work in. Even thought it was difficult. It made me a strong person and gave me an opportunity to meet lots of interesting characters. One day I decided to quit the job to have other experiences. Then I came to Australia by myself. When I moved to Tasmania I had lots of surprises with my new surroundings. It is more interesting and easy to live in Tasmania. I’ve been changing a lot of stuff since I left Japan e.g. my fashion, thought, opinion, foods, life style. Those things are improving my life experience. My most interesting thing is talking with multinational friends because when I talk with them I get to know the truth about their countries without exaggerated news. If I’m in Japan it’s difficult to meet people from different countries like now so I really enjoy studying in our class. We’ve different backgrounds but we’ve the same purpose, to improve English and living in Australia.

My health story

I quit smoking
When I was in Japan I used to be a smoker. I started smoking when I was twenty years old. At the time I didn’t think about my health.

While I was working at TOYOTA I had lots of stress from my job so it was easy to become addicted to smoking. One day I realized I’m already an addict.

I had been trying to quit smoking but it wasn’t easy. One day I read a book about “How to quit smoking”. At the time the book was a best seller in Japan even though I couldn’t stop smoking.

A few years later I quit the job and I came to Australia for a holiday where I met my husband in Tasmania. He is a nonsmoker. We often went to the bush for a walk. Since I started living with him in Tasmania I naturally become a nonsmoker.

Now I haven’t been smoking for four years. I don’t know a definite reason but I’m sure Tasmania nature and kind husband have been helping my stress.