SHINSHIRO, Aichi -- A minibus pulls out of the garage and heads north along National Route 151 next to the JR Iida Line in central Japan. At the base of 695-meter-tall Mount Horaiji, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, slightly later than on the plains. Behind the wheel is 46-year-old Elena Hashimoto, who moved from Italy to Japan in 2006.

This spring marks a year since Hashimoto took on her current role, driving the "Shinshiro S-Bus," a community bus that operates on four routes within the Aichi Prefecture city of Shinshiro. In a city with limited transportation options, the bus is indispensable for locals in commuting, attending school and shopping.

This reporter recently took a trip on the bus as it traveled through a mountainous area of the city. "The view on the right is amazing, isn't it?" Hashimoto remarked. As the bus ascended the winding road, it approached a scenic viewpoint with a panoramic view of the plains beyond the valley. While focused on driving safely, Hashimoto pointed out highlights along the route. Conversation flowed with a woman who boarded the bus on her way back from picking edible wild plants.

"What did you pick today? I love butterbur sprouts," Hashimoto said. "There weren't many this year," the woman responded.

The round trip takes about an hour, and she drives along the same course twice until evening.

Hashimoto hails from Trieste in northeastern Italy, near the Slovenian border. She met her husband, Tomohiro, 52, at a traditional mosaic art school in Italy, where she had enrolled to pursue a career in art. In 2006, she moved to Japan and from 2017 she began staging events and holding classes while living in a traditional Japanese house in Shitara, Aichi Prefecture.

Hashimoto's aspiration to become a driver stemmed from a part-time job she did at a gas station. She became acquainted with truck drivers and yearned to drive large vehicles. "I want to be a dump truck driver," she earnestly told a staffer at Hello Work Shinshiro, the local public employment assistance office.

Around that time, Seisan Kotsu, based in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, which operates the S-Bus service, was looking for drivers, and in the spring of 2024, Hashimoto secured a job at the company.

Normally, a class 2 large motor vehicle license is required for commercial passenger transport, but the S-Bus falls under the "private passenger transport for hire" category according to the Road Transportation Act, allowing her to drive with only a large motor vehicle type 1 license.

After entering the company, Hashimoto spent two weeks at a training camp in Nagano Prefecture, and obtained her license to finally make her debut as a driver.

One year into her career, she has become familiar with Shinshiro, and the number of familiar faces boarding the bus has increased.

"I'm happy to see the same passengers, and the children who get on as they head to school are adorable," she says. Playing an important role in helping locals get around, Hashimoto continues to drive with a smile.

(Japanese original by Yu Kajiwara, Nagoya News Department)

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Hashimoto was born in 1978. She drives the S-Bus three weekdays and dedicates another two to creating mosaic art. "That's so I can spend weekends with my children," she explains. She is a mother of one son and two daughters. With part-time work experience making soba noodles at a restaurant, she said, "Pasta is good, but I like soba."