Once upon a time there was a young man from Vancouver's Island named Craig. Victoria was the town he was born in and Victoria was the town he was raised in. He spent much time visiting other parts of the Island living in Ucluelet and Campbell River. In 2002 after graduating from Royal Roads University he moved to Edmonton in the province of Alberta to try his luck working with computers there.

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean on the Island of Honshu, there was a young woman named Kana. She was born in Fukuoka on Kyushu Island, and was raised in Kishiwada City (Osaka) on the Island of Honshu. She spent a lot of time travelling the world, visiting cites like Rome, Hong Kong, Soul, Brisbane, Irvine California & Honolulu. One day she came to the city of Victoria on Vancouver's Island. She took a job at a little restaurant on Langley Street and Broughton Streets called Niko Niko Teriyaki.

Meanwhile Craig, who just returned from living in Edmonton (his biggest adventure to date), began working again at the Attorney General's office, which just happened to be right across the street from Niko Niko. Craig would often visit Niko Niko for lunch, and this is where Craig & Kana's friendship began.

Over the months Kana and Craig fell in love and just as things were starting to cook, Kana had to return to Osaka (on the Island of Honshu from whence she came) to attend a friend's wedding and renew her visa.

While Kana was away, Craig was heartsick! They had discussed getting married and so, he decided that he could never be apart from her again. So while Kana's plane was in the air to return to Canada, Craig bought a ring! When Kana arrived Craig whisked her away to see Victoria and their old haunts.

Later that day Craig took Kana to St.Mary's Church in Metchosin, to a little grove of trees in the back, on an old wooden bench he asked Kana to sit down and there on bended knee he asked the young lady from Honshu to marry the young man from Vancouver's Island. Wiping away tears of joy Kana said yes!

And the story continues...
We were married on September 4th, 2004 at St.Mary's Anglican Church in Victoria. In December 2004 we moved to Kishiwada City in Osaka, Japan.

On December 22nd, 2005 at 10:17am our first baby girl, Grace Yuki Mercer was born. She weighed 2900 grams and is the joy of our lives!