Beach Frown, Victoria, B.C. (2009) At Shigeru's, Kumatori, Japan (2005) At Wickaninnish, Ucluelet, B.C. (2014) At Ninja Mura in Mie, Japan (2005) Christmas, Victoria, B.C. (2012) Pre-Wedding Photos at Royal Roads Japanese Garden, Victoria (2004) Hatsumode at Ikuta Jinja, Kobe, Japan (2005) Sunset, Victoria B.C., (2009) No Limits Conference - Port Hardy, B.C. (2008) New Years, Victoria, B.C. (2012) Nabe Party, Victoria, B.C. (2009) Fujii Wedding, Osaka, Japan (2006) KaToRiShiA, Osaka, Japan (2011) At Grandpa's, Victoria, B.C. (2012) Royal Kids Reunion, Osaka, Japan (2011) The Toast, Victoria, B.C. (2012) Danjiri Matsuri, Kishiwada, Japan (2011)
 

6th Anniversary at Creyke Point, East Sooke Park

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We spent our sixth anniversary out at East Sooke Park. It is a very serene location and not many people go out there. I remember doing field trips out there when I was in school and it always struck me a isolated yet very beautiful location. We picnicked out at Creyke Point (a rocky headland of unusual shapes against emerald green water – taken from the East Sooke Park Brochure http://www.crd.bc.ca/parks/documents/east_sooke_web_brochure_000.pdf).

We finished our day on the playground at Hans Helgesen Elementary School. Good times were had by all.
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By • Adventures in Victoria • • Tags: , , ,

Wyatt Haku Mercer’s 1ST Birthday Cake

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As many of you know we live in a two bedroom basement suite which is not quite big enough to throw a birthday party for our son Wyatt (Haku) in. After thinking about what would work best we decided on Beacon Hill Park as the venue as it was large enough and we might even have some sunshine. We then invited our Japanese and Canadian friends to come and join us for a picnic party and some Lighthouse Bakery birthday cake goodness. Then in true Mercer style we allowed Wyatt to eat his first birthday cake any way he wanted (which helped us make the wonderful video below). Happy Birthday Wyatt but next year you’ll have to use a fork!
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By • Adventures in Victoria • • Tags:

Japanese No. 1 Town – Cumberland BC

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We joined the Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society (VNCS) back in January and we found out about this event taking place in Cumberland and even though we did not know what to expect we decided to go. The event was for the unveiling of a plaque commemorating/dedicating 31 sakura (cherry) trees in honour of the 31 Japanese families that were forcibly relocated as a result of the Government of Canada War Measures Act of 1942. It was attended by all manner of dignitaries, guests and descendants of the exiled families.

Obviously Kana and I are only vaguely aware of Nikkei issues on the west coast. Attending this event was a privilege and gave us some insight into not only the history of Japanese-Canadians but also into the present as well.

By • Victoria Nikkei • • Tags: ,

Becky’s Birthday Surprise

We’ve been doing homegroup with Kathryn “Toad” Dunphy and Dan & Becky McGregor for a couple of years now and birthday’s are always a great time to see if we can surprise each other. We were able to pull it off as shown in the video short we created "Becky’s Surprise Birthday".

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By • Adventures in Victoria • • Tags:

Craig becomes a board member of the VNCS

VNCS We’ve been members of the Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society (www.vncs.ca) for a couple of years now. We attended a few events and so I (Craig) decided to attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to see what it was like. I took Kinya along for moral support…not sure why I thought a Japanese national would be moral support at a meeting of Japanese-Canadian Nikkei (diaspora)…LOL I am sure Kinya was more confused than me! We were sitting behind Roy Katsuyama and Roy Natsuhara (the two Roys) and the next thing I knew…I am now an elected member of the Board of Directors. Wish me luck!

By • Victoria Nikkei •

Scotch Fest 2009

8th Annual Scotch Fest Poster (2009)

8th Annual Scotch Fest Poster (2009)

Auk wee I, Once again tiss time
to rattle the claymores and fill the Quaich.
Then let the flowing Quaich go round
and boldly let the pibroch sound
Till every glen and rock resound.

All wee clansmen and women are welcome
to the Eighth Annual Scotch fest 2009.
So bring your See ya Jimmy and get ready to crack your kranium.

7:00 PM AT 2985 Harriet Rd Dec 05 2009 Hope to see you all then.
Cheers

For new people who will be coming
please bring a bottle 15year or
better of single malt scotch to share.
If scotch is not your thing,
well bring beer or wine and have a good time.

By • Scotch Fest •

A little something to tide us over till Christmas…

ChristmasHey Puritch Family,
I know that the Christmas season is soon approaching and was going through some photos and video clips from our 2007 get together at George & Elaine’s and threw a little something-something together to tide us over till this years’ party.

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By • Adventures in Victoria • • Tags: ,

Halloween 2009

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One of the funnest parts of being back in Canada is being able to celebrate Halloween. Grace Yuki loves to get dressed up in her lady bug costume and go “trick or treating”. After a quick visit from Angie and Dave we headed over to the Simpsons (Travis, Chrissy and baby Elias) where we went “trick or treating” in their neighbourhood. Yuki really got into the swing of it this year and had a super good time going door to door with Kana.
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By • Adventures in Victoria • • Tags: , ,

Welcome to the family, Wyatt Haku Mercer!

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Wyatt Haku Mercer joined the human race Saturday, June 20th 2009 at 11:05AM Pacific Daylight Time weighing in at 3036 Grams (6 lbs 11 ounces for you non-metric types). Kana and Wyatt are doing very well and enjoying some much deserved rest at Victoria General Hospital.

 
Wyatt Haku Mercer

Wyatt Haku Mercer

 

By • Adventures in Victoria • • Tags:

NEW Sasuke/Ninja Warrior Website Launched

SASUKE-Ninja Warrior Banner Image

Greetings! As many of you know Kana and I are huge fans of SASUKE/Ninja Warrior, the Japanese Obstacle Course Game Show that we started watching back in 2005 while living in Japan.

Since then we have hosted many a SASUKE/Ninja Warrior party to convert as many people as possible to the awesomeness that is SASUKE/Ninja Warrior.

After returning from Japan at the end of October, I began working on putting together a new SASUKE/Ninja Warrior website to help spread the word, and to give us something to do between shows. The fruits of my labour have paid off and I am pleased to announce the launching of www.sasukecentral.net. Please drop buy and check it out.

Cheers!

By • News • • Tags:

Scotch Fest 2008

7th Annual Scotch Fest Poster (2008)

7th Annual Scotch Fest Poster (2008)

Auk wee I, Once again tiss time
to rattle the claymores and fill the Quaich.
Then let the flowing Quaich go round
and boldly let the pibroch sound
Till every glen and rock resound.

All wee clansmen and women are welcome
to the Seventh Annual Scotch fest 2008.
So bring your See ya Jimmy and get ready to crack your kranium.

7:00 PM AT 2985 Harriet Rd NOV 22 2008 Hope to see you all then.
Cheers

For new people who will be coming please bring a bottle of single malt scotch to share. If scotch is not your thing, well bring beer or wine and have a good time.

Scotch Fest “Aftermath” 2008

Scotch Fest “Aftermath” 2008

By • Scotch Fest •

Visiting Osaka in October 2008

Osaka
Hello All,
We are planning on coming to Osaka for a visit arriving Wednesday, October 8th and leaving Saturday, October 25th. We are looking forward to visiting with all of our friends and family. Read more…

By • Osaka (大阪) •

A new chapter begins at VIHA

Last week was my last day at Vigil (again). Today I begin work for the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA). I will be working as the Quality Assurance/Quality Control Manager for the IM/IT (Information Management/Information Technology) PMO (Project Management Office).

Going from a company of 25 to a company of 17,500 should be interesting. Wish me luck….although I know luck has got nothing to do with it. 😉

By • News •

Last day at Vigil (again)

Vigil Health Solutions logo

Well here we go again! I’ve been back with Vigil Health Solutions (www.vigil.com) since returning from Japan and now it is time to say good-bye again.

I have learned a lot during my time(s) at Vigil and while I will miss all of my vigilante colleagues it’s time to work closer to home.

Thanks for all of the memories!

By • News •

Scotch Fest 2007

6th Annual Scotch Fest Poster (2007)

6th Annual Scotch Fest Poster (2007)

Auk wee I, Once again tiss time
to rattle the claymores and fill the Quaich.
Then let the flowing Quaich go round
and boldly let the pibroch sound
Till every glen and rock resound.

All wee clansmen and women are welcome
to the Six Annual Scotch fest 2007.
So bring your See ya Jimmy and get ready to crack your kranium.

7:00 PM AT 3045 ALBANY NOV 10th 2007
Hope to see you all then.
Cheers

For new people who will be coming please bring a bottle of single malt scotch to share. If scotch is not your thing, well bring beer or wine and have a good time.

 

By • Scotch Fest •

Welcome to the “Archive” version of the Mercers’ Website

WebI have been cleaning up the website over the last couple of weeks and here is the final archive version. Here is how it will stay…”The Mercers Adventures in Osaka” (until I change it again).

It was fun while it lasted but all good things must come to an end.

By • News •

Last Entry…for now…

Well it certainly was an interesting and enlightening experience being in Japan. We really did enjoy ourselves and loved meeting so many cool people…some whom will be friends with us for the rest of our lives.

But now we are back in Victoria and our minds our set on the things we have to do here. So the website will remain as it is until we decide what to do with it next.

For those of you who would like to have our new contact information, it is:

Craig & Kana Mercer
3246 Admirals Road (Basement)
Victoria, B.C., Canada
V8Z 4N5
1.250.744.7755

We will leave the information up because a lot of it may still be of use for those just arriving in Japan, so enjoy and if you have any questions you can always drop us an .

By • News •

Hello from Victoria

Victoria BC
Hello from Victoria.

As many of you know we had a great flight to Victoria on April 15th. Gracie slept for 7 of the 9 hour flight. Next we breezed through customs and Adam and Sophia then chauffeured us to Victoria via the BC Ferries!

Since then we have settled in at my Mom’s place in Colwood and I have started back to work at Vigil Health Solutions Inc. where I suspect I shall be very busy soon. Kana and Yuki are getting used to the new climate as well as the totally new surroundings. Also, we have found a new place to live. A two bedroom basement suite near Tillicum Mall, 3246 Admirals Rd to be precise. It is just perfect with private laundry and driveway.
 

Craig and YukiCraig and Grace Yuki in front of the My Chosin Cafe

 
Soon after we got back Kana, Grace Yuki and I went for lunch at the My Chosin Cafe in Metchosin…the portions are big even if you haven’t been in Japan for two year so we were like "WOW!". Very good food though…you just have to eat a little…that is the secret.

We sure are missing all of our awesome friends back in Osaka and we look forward to hearing from you soon (**Craig staring across the Pacific Ocean at Daniel and James**).

It’s good to be back.

By • News •

Signing off from Osaka

Osaka
Well our day to leave Nippon has finally come. We, with heavy hearts, are heading down to Kansai Airport in about 10 minutes (2:00pm JST). Before we left though we wanted to say Sayonara to all our wonderful friends and family in Japan.

We also wanted to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to Ai and Junya Fujii on the birth of their first son Hayato. We were hoping to meet the new little one before we left and Ai did not disappoint us. YAY! Hayato was born on Thursday April 12th at 1:14pm and weighed in at 3070grams.

Hayato

Hayato Fuji

Junya and Ai

Junya and Ai…the happy parents!

 

We have met so many cool people in Japan and we will sorely miss you all (Yoshio, Shigeru, Daniel & Miyuki, Madoka, Mika, James & Hiromi, Lian & Atsushi, Eiko, Misako, Ai & Junya, Rie, Shima, Tomo & Koichi, Terry & Tomomi, David, Mac & Aya, Ryoko & Kenji Sei, Teruko and list goes on and on)! It is doubly hard to leave Kana’s family (Mom, Dad, sister Chie and her wonderful newborn son Seia) as Grace Yuki has really made our times together very very memorable. Family is good that way hey!?!

So this is it from the Mercers in Osaka. I guess our next video series will be “The Mercers’ Adventures in Victoria”. Love and Prayers Everyone. SAYONARA!

By • Osaka (大阪) •

Days left in Osaka = 4

Hi All.

Our “Sayonara Parties” are done and we are switching into serious packing up mode. We cancelled our cell phones yesterday, which means if you are in Japan and you want to reach us, you should emailor call 72.426.3987.

We sure are going to miss all of our new friends that we have made while being in Osaka these past two years. Last night we were finally able to make it out to our local Izakaya “Enjoy Sake” which we have been trying to get to since it opened last summer. Even Kana made it out which is so rare…a fitting way to end our last get together in Osaka. Sniff Sniff.

James, Hiromi, Kana and Me

James, Hiromi, Kana and I at the “Enjoy Sake” Izakaya

Travel Details.
For those of you wondering what flight we will be on and when here are the particulars:

We are flying on Air Canada (flight number AC36) from Kansai Airport (KIX) at 5:25pm on Sunday, April 15th. We will arrive at Vancouver Airport on Sunday April 15th at 11:00am (it’s wierd I know but there is a 16 hour time difference between Osaka and Victoria). Wish us luck for the joy that is customs and immigration. YAY!

Our best friends Adam & Marianne Richards have graciously agreed to come with a huge van to pick us up from Vancouver Airport and drive us back to the Island. We are planning to make a short stop off at my Dad & Mom’s place to introduce Grace Yuki in person before finally arriving at my Mom’s place where we will be hanging our hats for the next few weeks while we look for a place of our own.

In other news, Kana’s best friend Ai her husdand Junya are expecting their first baby any hour now and we are really hoping we will get to meet the new little one before we have to go.

By • Osaka (大阪) •

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