It was a long journey from Seoul, South Korea to Bowen Island and now that Joong Kim is here, he thinks he never wants to leave.
Kim arrived in Toronto in 1985 as a university student but he didn’t have enough money to continue his education so, after one year, he quit and worked in the construction industry. Seven years later he got landed immigrant status and opened a small variety store. He’d wake up early, go to a wholesaler’s to stock the store, return to the wholesaler’s during lunch to spend the morning’s proceeds on new supplies, work until night and start the whole routine early the next morning.
When new laws governing cigarette sales took effect, he worried about the store’s viability and headed west to Britannia Beach in March 2003. When a long-term relationship broke up, he sold the store and came to Bowen, where he knew the owners of the General Store. He worked at the store until nine at night and then took the ferry to the mainland, where he trained as a sushi chef for two hours every night. He opened Bowen Sushi in 2004 and moved here in 2009.
Work doesn’t allow him much time to enjoy island life. He works 10 to 10 six days a week and spends Sundays shopping, also going to town at least one early morning to buy supplies before the Artisan Square restaurant opens. Recently he opened another restaurant, Sushi Hub, at Main and 33rd in Vancouver. He puts in the long hours to be able to send money to his 83-year-old mother, who lives in Seoul and has health problems.
“Canada is a good country,” he says during a rare break. “Bowen is a very nice place. All the time my heart says, ‘Thank you very much.’ Maybe my life will finish here.”
