Japan

Oct 8 2006

Daniel & Miyuki de Vignat get MARRIED

Daniel and Miyuki
Daniel and Miyuki de Vignat

Yesterday, Saturday October the 7th 2006, Daniel de Vignat and Miyuki Horiuchi were married at beautiful Yuge farm near Kobe, Japan.

Daniel asked me to be his best man, as well as co-emcee (with Miyuki’s Maid of Honour Akiko) for the reception. We had a great time up there at Yuge farm. Kana and Grace Yuki came too and were able to enjoy the festivities.

Unfortunately, with me emceeing and best manning, and with Kana looking after Gracie we didn’t get one picture of Daniel & Miyuki! DOH! But I am hoping some of our other friends will have some pictures to send me, as Miyuki was just stunning…Daniel didn’t look half bad either.

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Deep Thoughts with Mark and Mom

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Sep 3 2005

The Mercers One Year Wedding Anniversary at the Otodama Rock Festival


 

Has it been one year already? WOW! Time flies when you are having fun. This first year of marriage has been a wonderful time, moving to Japan, expecting our first baby and missing all of our family and friends back in Canada, but enjoying making some new friends in Japan too.

To celebrate our one year anniversary we decided to accompany Chie and Chizuko (Mom) to a Rock Festival at the Izumi Otsu Phoenix (between Kishiwada and Osaka) called Otodama. Otodama means “hotspring of music for your soul” (rough translation). There were 14 bands playing from 10:00am to 21:00 (9:00pm for you non 24 hour clock people).

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May 3 2005

Trip to Ninja Mura


 

Craig and I went on a day trip to NINJA Village on May 3rd with Ai my best friend, her boyfriend Junya and our new friend Toni from West Virginia, who has been in Japan for 4 years now. We got to know Toni when Craig was looking for a job and she gave him lots of good information on how to do that.

We all got together at Tsuruhashi Station before 9:00am and headed to Iga-Kambe Station (on Kintetsu-line) where we switch a train to the final destination. I tried to book the seats for an Express Train to Iga-Kambe as we need to ride on a train for about 2 hours, however I was a bit later than other people and couldn’t. I had totally forgot that there is the Aichi Expo 2005 on and Ninja-mura (village) is on the way to Aichi! So we had to ride the rapid train instead and fortunately, the train wasn’t as packed as we had expected.Read more…

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Jan 3 2005

Trip to Ikuta Jinja


On January 3rd 2005, Ai & Junya along with Kana and myself took a trip to Kobe to visit Ikuta Shrine. We had a lot of fun that day experiencing a Japanese New Year tradition. Happy year of the Chicken!

(The following courtesy of Wikipedia)
Ikuta Shrine (Ikuta-jinja) is a Shinto shrine in the Chuo Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country.Read more…

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Jan 1 2005

Trip to Mizuma Dera


On New Year’s Day, Craig & Kana along with Kana’s family, visit the Mizuma-dera Temple. It is a new experience for Craig. There are lots and lots of people visiting the Temple on New Year’s Day.

There are dozens of little stalls surrounding the temple selling everything from cotton candy to squid to octopus!

One funny little story that happened in the video, a little girl got Craig’s leg mixed up with her mother’s. Imagine her surprise when she looked up and saw she was holding onto a strange white guy’s leg! LOL Read more…

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