Moved with the Company; Chose PR for the Children

Q. Congratulations on obtaining Canadian permanent residency. Looking back, how was the visa application journey?

When it came to the visa, I really left everything to Ms. Sakurai.

Still, since I had stayed in many countries for work, I had to obtain police certificates from lots of countries, which was tough. As for my travel history, when I was in Singapore I was traveling abroad on business almost every week, and of course I don’t remember all of it.

My passport even filled up with stamps, so I had a second one. To dig up that history, I went through old planners and asked the company for my business trip records, and when I put it all together it came to about two pages of Excel.

Q. You traveled abroad that much! Did you often come to Canada too?

My first time in Canada was in 2013, when I came on business with the owner of the Singapore company. Oh, but I was born in Seattle, and as a child I lived in Port Angeles, a fishing village in northern Washington State, very close to Victoria (the capital of BC, Canada). So apparently I had been there by ferry.

Q. So you were born in the U.S.! You went back to (or moved to?) Japan, but then went abroad again after all?

Yes, I was in the U.S. until I was 9, and then moved to Japan. Then from age 22 I was in Australia. I wanted to play soccer, and I played for a semi-pro team for 2 years. Leaving Japan wasn’t a negative thing, but I guess I just couldn’t fit inside the box there.

When I first came to Japan, my Japanese was shaky, I couldn’t do kanji, and I was also much bigger physically than the other kids. By elementary school I was already within about 2 centimeters of my current height.

◆ Finding Opportunities at a Company in Singapore

After that, I joined a company in Singapore that sells contact lenses online, where I worked for 7 years and rose to a manager position. During that time I went on buying trips to various countries in Asia.

The business was going very well, and we came to cover almost every market in Asia. So we decided that North America was next, and the company set a policy of establishing a new head office in a North American city.

Vancouver was chosen as the city closest to Asia and easiest to travel back and forth from. Then the company owner said to me, “You’re going, right?” I’m basically a bundle of ambition, so I immediately replied that I would go. I was put in charge of launching the business from the ground up and came to Canada in March 2014.

Q. So you didn’t apply for permanent residency right after coming to Canada. Weren’t you planning to settle permanently at first?

At first, I thought that even after coming to Canada, in about 5 years when this business had settled down, I would be called to move again to launch a European branch or something similar. So I intended to keep working in Canada on a work visa.

But once I actually came to Canada and started living here, I came to like the environment. My thinking changed especially around the time our second child was born.

Our older child was born and raised in Singapore, and the first language he was exposed to outside the home was Chinese. We also lived in Japan for about a year. I thought that frequently changing where he lived and what language he used was a burden on a child. Vancouver is multilingual to begin with, so I think it suits my son well. With all that in mind, I decided to get permanent residency so we could settle in Canada. I told my boss in Singapore that I wouldn’t be moving anymore.

My son is on a soccer team, and I coach it too. Burnaby (the city next to Vancouver where Mr. Shigeno’s company is located) has lots of nature and is a nice, relaxed environment.

Q. Please tell us about running the company.

I’m only in my fourth year as president, so there are still things I find difficult. We have about 30 full-time employees: a marketing team, a logistics team that manages everything from the warehouse to shipping, a web design and programming team, a customer support team, and accounting staff and an administrator in my own office.

In the warehouse behind the office, part-time staff, including students and homemakers, ship products based on orders coming in from all over North America. We also constantly hire working holiday participants and make sure they join company parties and so on. I want these young people to gain all kinds of experience and do their best, too.

Q. Now that you’re settling in Canada, are there any places you’d like to travel from here?

Hmm, I’ve already been all over. Not within Canada at all, though. I’ve been to lots of resorts. I’d definitely like to go back to Singapore. It’s so lively. And fast-paced. When I came here I was surprised at how slow the pace is. lol

I think I’ll start traveling within BC. I’ve never even been to Whistler. I plan to start around Vancouver and enjoy local life here.

LM Global Enterprises, where Mr. Shigeno serves as president, operates “Perfect Lens,” an online contact lens sales service in North America. Its appeal is said to be a convenient, reliable service that lets you buy contact lenses online without a prescription and quickly receive lenses of the same manufacturer-certified quality, at very low prices.

When we visited for this interview, we were able to see how carefully the products are handled, packed and shipped. They seem to carry a wide selection, making it a really welcome service for anyone who wants to buy the same contact lenses they used in Japan at a lower price. Four years since launching the service in North America, its market share keeps growing, and it was no surprise to see Mr. Shigeno so busy and thriving every day!

Products / Online Store Websites
Canada: https://www.perfectlens.ca/
USA: https://www.perfectlensworld.com/