Sharla Katalin Hinskens (born April 23, 1986), also known as Sharmeleon ("evolved" from Sharmander upon receiving 500,000 subscribers in March 2020) and Sharla in Japan, is a Canadian

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

who has been vlogging about her experiences in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

since 2011.

Biography

Sharla grew up in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

. Her paternal grandparents were Dutch, her maternal grandfather Hungarian and her maternal grandmother English. She was brought up in a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

household but did occasionally eat meat at her grandparents' house. Over her life, she had followed

pescatarian Pescetarianism ( ; sometimes spelled pescatarianism) is a dietary practice in which seafood is the only source of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet. The inclusion of other animal products, such as eggs and dairy, is optional. According to res ...

and

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

diets but is currently following a flexible diet. Her first visit to Japan was when she was 17 years old, as an exchange student between the

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

Victoria and

Morioka is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 August 2023, the city had an estimated population of 283,981 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of t ...

. She worked in Tokyo at age 19 as an English teacher, and went back to Canada in 2010. When the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

hit, she moved back to Japan, due to stress from being in Canada and far away from her friends. Around this time she started

vlog A vlog (), also known as a video blog or video log, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one ta ...

ging her daily life. Her videos, including topics where she discusses what she likes about Japan, were well received with foreign viewers interested in the country. On June 18, 2018, she announced her marriage to a Korean man, who wished to remain anonymous on YouTube, who had been an alumnus of Japan university after a seven-year relationship. They moved to his native

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

where Sharla continued to vlog about her life there although she did continue to visit Japan. On March 5, 2019, Sharla announced her separation from her husband, eventually divorcing, and her intention to move back to Japan citing difficulties in living in an environment where she did not speak enough of the language in her current mental state and Canada not being exciting enough in this stage of her life. In September 2020, she started Neko Neko Post, a service to sell fancy Japanese stationery, of which she herself is a fan, to overseas customers in collaboration with friends. In August 2022 she and the English YouTuber Chris Broad announced their relationship in two separate videos on their respective channels. On February 14, 2023, Chris and Sharla announced their engagement, with the proposal happening at

Durdle Door Durdle Door (sometimes written Durdle Dor) is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England.West, I.W., 2003.Durdle Door; Geology of the Dorset Coast". Southampton University, UK. Version H.07.09.03. It is ...

in Dorset, England. She has translated the films ''

Shin Godzilla is a 2016 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, with a screenplay by Anno and visual effects by Higuchi. Produced by Toho, Toho Pictures and Cine Bazar and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the 31st film in the ...

'' (2016) and ''

Terra Formars is a Japanese manga series written by and illustrated by . It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Miracle Jump'' from January to December 2011, and was transferred to ''Weekly Young Jump'' in April 2012. ...

'' (2016) for the English subtitles, and also served as a dialogue coach assistant. Since 2018, she has collaborated with Chris Broad and participated in his series ''Journey Across Japan''. She has also partnered with local governments and organizations to promote local specialities.

Neko Neko B&B

Sharla and her friend Ushka have totally refurbished two abandoned houses in Tokyo and created successful bed and breakfasts called Neko Neko B&B, https://nekonekostays.com/ They are currently working on a third house.

References

External links

* {{YouTube, user=sharlainjapan, title=Sharmeleon
Neko Neko Post official website
Living people YouTube channels Canadian YouTubers Entertainers from Victoria, British Columbia Canadian expatriates in Japan 1986 births YouTubers from British Columbia