Canadian Alex St-Jean and his Japanese wife Mami run the soy wax candle business North Candles from a renovated abandoned house in Taiki, Hokkaido. The couple met in 2016 on a vegetable farm in British Columbia while Mami was backpacking and Alex was a university student volunteering. They describe home as 'the family we’ve created in Hokkaido.'
Thirty-one-year-old Alex St-Jean, originally from Ontario, and his 34-year-old wife Mami form the team behind North Candles, a handmade soy wax candle venture in Taiki, Hokkaido. Their home and workshop occupy a renovated akiya, an abandoned house, where they craft products daily.
The pair first connected in 2016 at a vegetable farm in British Columbia. Mami was traveling Canada as a backpacker, while Alex, a university student, had hitchhiked to the West Coast and joined as a volunteer. They shared about a week working together there.
This mixed cultural background inspires their work, blending Canadian and Japanese influences. North Candles represents their small business roots in Hokkaido, embodying the family they've built. As Alex reflects, 'Home feels like the family we’ve created in Hokkaido.' Such expat couples are pioneering new lifestyles through local entrepreneurship in rural Japan.