Maple & Sakura

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✥ About ✥
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Best selfie in my life. I’ve been graced with the love of a temple calico cat.

✥ Hello! Bonjour! こんにちは！

My name is Lisa and I’m a housewife, teacher and (hopefully one day) writer based in Tokyo, coming all the way from the land of maple syrup. (Hence the name of this blog!) I am from the proud province where poutine originated, I mean Quebec, and therefore I speak French on a native level and on a regular basis, as well as English and Japanese, and a little bit of Korean, which can get pretty confusing at times, to be honest. I graduated in Japanese language and literature and spirituality in 2018 from the University of Montreal . I’m also a cat lover, a book nerd, a Japanese folktales and legends fanatic, as well as a temple and shrine enthusiast. And chocoholic, too. Why not coconut.

I landed in Tokyo sometime in 2017 as an exchange student at Sophia University and shortly after graduating I made the capital my forever home alongside my husband and our sweet (devil) little kitty, Milky.
I’ve been dreaming since I was 12 to move to Tokyo and made it finally happen exactly 10 years later at age 22.
It’s been 4 years now, I’ve graduated and got my first few jobs, and my life in Japan has truly been a roller coaster of experiences to say the least.
One thing that still remains unchanged after all these years is my deep, deep love for the culture, the history and the traditions of Japan. I mean, how can the culture be so rich and beautiful? It’s been 14 years now and I’m still mesmerized by it.

By creating this blog and sharing my stories, I truly hope you can feel the same magic I feel about Japan. Sure, like every other country, Japan has a lot of flaws and problems, and I’m not here to sugarcoat or glamorize anything, but I do wish you can see it through my eyes and fall in love the same way I did. I want you to see the real Japan, the Japan I’ve been living in and dreaming about for the past few years. Simple, yet complex. Traditional, yet modern. Heartwarming, yet lonely at times, too. It is a beautiful and mysterious country. A Canadian perspective of sorts into the land of the rising sun.

I also want to keep writing, and I am always full of ideas and projects for books and short stories related to Japan, so I hope you stick along for this crazy adventure!

Hope you enjoy! ☺

Lisa Poirier