Author Archives: Craig "hachiroku" Mercer
Guestbook (archive)
We had a guestbook on the original version of the website (from 2005-2006) but it became such a problem with spam that we retired it in 2007. However we retained the posts that friends and family had left and we proudly archive them here.
Gerard De Vignat on October 10th, 2006 from Belgium
My deepest sympathies on the demise of your grandmother. I am sure that she is sitting with god looking down and taking care of you and your family.
Gerard.
Nicolas and Denise Braam on September 30th, 2006 from Victoria BC Canada
Hey Craig and Kana! Just checked out all the updates to your website. Great to see the new pictures. Looks like you guy’s are really having a lot of fun there. It reminds me how much we need to get over there and visit!
Cheers,
Nick
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Kirk’s Kendo Practice
My older brother Kirk came to visit (Dec.29 2005 to Jan.08 2006) soon after Grace Yuki was born . While he was here, Shigeru Komamonoya (the older Japanese fellow whom I met one day on the JR Train and has been a good friend to Kana and I ever since) was able to arrange for Kirk to attend a New Years Eve/Day Kendo Practice at Osaka Taiiku Daigaku (Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences). The really cool thing is that one of Kirk’s Senseis from the UVIC Kendo Club (Hayashi Daisuke) went to Osaka Taiiku Daigaku and knows all the Seneis there. Although there is only one picture of him, Morioka Sensei is a good friend of Hayashi Sensei, in fact, they went to Jr.High together! Read more…
The birth of Grace Yuki Mercer
Grace Yuki Mercer was born on December 22nd, 2005 at 10:17AM weighing 2900 grams. This video is a compilation of the first three days of Grace Yuki’s life as seen by us (her parents). We hope you enjoy our greatest Christmas gift of all!
2005年12月22日、AM10：17、私達夫婦の間に赤ちゃんが産まれました！2,900グラムの元気な女の子。 初めての出産にもかかわらず、病院到着後2時間足らずという超スピード＆安産でした。
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Kana and baby Grace Yuki come home
Kana and Grace came home from the hospital today.
Craig, Kana and Yuki fresh home from the hospital
We have been just overwhelmed by all of your emails to both regular and cell phone addresses, as well as all of your encouragement on the friends page. In addition we have really cherished being able to visit with some of you via Skype and MSN Messenger. Thank You Very Much.
I posted a few of the photos from the past few days to the Photo Gallery (retired 2012 as the photos are on Facebook)…so enjoy.
Tonight is our first night all at home, and I am sure with less sleep then any of us is used to. Pray for us! 😉
Grace Yuki Mercer coming home UPDATE
Kana was informed by one of the nurses at Kaizuka Hospital that she got the wrong discharge date. Her and Grace will be coming home on Tuesday, December 27th around 12:00 noon instead of Monday as we originally thought.
Kana is a little impatient about coming home, but I told her that it was quite nice to have all these nurses available to her so she can rest up and be ready for when the real work begins…when the girls get home.
Grace by U2
I am just finishing off a video of young Grace Yuki Mercer…and in the video I use the song “Grace” by U2 from the “All That You Can't Leave Behind” album. I thought I might post the lyrics here as I think, I am sure you will agree, are quite awesome.
Grace
by U2
Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace, it's the name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything
Grace, she's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything
Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things
Grace Yuki Mercer UPDATE
Hello Everyone. I am back from the hospital with some more pictures and some more information on how today unfolded. God is good.
Well you should have known all of this by now but my email list failed me.
Grace Yuki Mercer was born this morning at 10:17AM JST. She weighs 2.9KG or 2900 grams.
Kana started having contractions around 3:30AM, when I got up she was like “Hmm Honey…the baby is coming.” So Chie, Mom, Kana and I piled into Chie’s car and headed to Kaizuka Hospital (about a 15 minute drive away). There she was whisked into the delivery room where I joined her soon after. The Nurses and Doctors said that Kana’s delivery was awesome because it was so short and there were no complications. In fact Kana gave a 100% natural child birth…no drugs or nothing…YOU GO MAMA!
Kana will stay in the hospital until Monday the 26th (so we are postponing Christmas until our BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER can make it home from the hospital). It was tough leaving her there tonight, but she is in good hands as is Grace.
So yeah, apparently my mailing list failed this morning so no one got the emails as it happened. YIKES! I have included a copy of the emails I sent from my cell phone:
7:23AM
Okay everyone, Kana has gone into labour and we are heading to the hospital as we speak. I will be emailing updates from my cell phone to this list as things progress. We appreciate your prayers at this crucial time for the Baby Mercer!
8:07AM JST
We just arrived at Kaizuka Hospital. Kana’s contractions are 5 minutes apart! More to follow…
11:11AM JST
Hey! Grace Yuki Mercer was born at 10:17AM JST weighing in at 2.9KG! Mom and Grace are doing GREAT!
5:42PM JST
Grace hanging out! BY THE WAY you can reply to these emails from my cell phone just keep em short! (this email had the Baby Room [see below] picture attached originally)
Okay well there ya go! I think everyone is up to speed now. If you want to email some wishes to Kana you can to her cell phone (she has it at the hospital)! Below are some pictures for your enjoyment! Click them for larger images.
Daughter Grace with Mom Kana shortly after being born
Grace hanging out in the Baby Room with “The Gang”
Grace sleeping in the Baby Room
Craig & Kana…the Happy Parents
Welcome to the family, Grace Yuki Mercer
Grace Yuki Mercer joined the family this morning at 10:17AM JST (Japan Standard Time). She weighs 2.9KG and is just great.
Grace Yuki Mercer
We are just heading back up to Kaizuka Hospital now to see Kana and Grace. I will post some more pictures and video when we get back.
NEW Mercers website LIVE and other things…
Merry Christmas everyone. I know the burning question on everyone's mind is “Did Kana have the baby yet?” The answer is no, not yet, but the Doctor says it should be any day. During the check up at the hospital today the Doc said he figures the baby just likes being in Mom too much.
In other news, the NEW website is live now, as you probably already noticed. This version is a little brighter and a little more organized.
If you haven't done so already, or you want to again, please take a minute to sign the Friends page and wish us some Christmas cheer.
Thanks to everyone who has made this first year in Japan fun and exciting (Yoshio, Shigeru & Akiko, Mr. & Mrs. Sei, Nakamura-san, Brent & Yoshie, the KaToRiShiA, Toni, Daniel, Narelle, Madoka, Eiko and the rest of the folks at Royal Kids International School, Mac & Aya, all the folks at AIM English Studio, Matsumoto-san [my hairdresser], and everyone we forgot to mention…we know who you are!). And of course, to all our friends and family back home, we sure do miss you guys.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
New Mercers website in the works
I am currently doing an overhaul on The Mercers' website. Over the next few days some areas may be down while others may look completely different.
I hope to have everything up and running in the next 2 or 3 days. Please bear with us as we get the kinks worked out.
IT’S A GIRL! (99.9%)
I visited the hospital for a regular check-up on November 2nd and we finally got to know the baby is a girl. YET, we still have to have that “There is always a chance of 0.1% happens” in our mind as what happened to us when we got pregnant and my friend Tomo got a baby boy when she had been told she was going to have a girl….
Anyway, the little girl has been growing in my tummy just fine and she weighs 1,932 grams now. I did the ultra sound check at the check-up and a doctor measured the size of the baby's head and waist, the length of the legs and the arms and everything was just perfect as if she was the one on a textbook! When the doctor tried to take a picture of her face, she was facing to a different way, however she turned herself so that we could see her face responding the doctor's request! My Mom and I found she looks like Craig in that picture.
I have been staying in a good health, which is good. Since I had been told I gained too much weight, in Japan women are taught to keep her weight not to gain more than 2kg in a month. By the way, I started to eat lots of beans instead of rice and I think it has been working very good.
Craig and I will have a “Parents Class” on the 19th of November as a preparation for us to do a big thing together on the special day. So we will tell you all about it later. It is going to be fun.
Hey, in Japanese custom we take a new born baby to a shrine to celebrate his/her birth and to wish his/her happiness, and Craig and I have decided we are not going to do it. Now I would like to ask you people who have read this article what do you do when you have a baby in your family in Canada? Is there any custom things? Should we prepare anything? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.
Craig lands new job at AIM English Studio
As the due date (December 27th) for the Baby Mercer has been approaching, Kana and I have been trying to simplify our lives a little more and make it more “baby friendly”. One of the things I have been looking to simplify is my job. After watching the want ads I decided to interview and landed a job at AIM English Studio which only about 20 minutes away from the house (where as Royal Kids is about an hour).
I tendered my resignation on October 21st to Royal Kids International School and my last day there will be November 25th. I won’t start the new job at AIM until January 5th, 2006 as I planning on having all of December off to look after Kana and drive her to the hospital (now that I have a Japanese licence) etc.
AIM English Studio has been in operation since 1982 and is the brainchild of one Mikiko Nakamoto, the author of the “Learning World” ESL/EFL text book series, which apparently is the second best selling series in Japan. I will be teaching English to many age groups and work from the afternoon into the evenings freeing me up to help out Kana and baby in the mornings.
Survival Japanese – Yen 円 (Money)
Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri 2005
Kana’s hometown of Kishiwada is famous all over Japan for their annual Danjiri Matsuri (Mobile Float/Shrine Festival). You can learn more about the historic roots of this wacky festival at the Kishiwada City homepage (http://www.city.kishiwada.osaka.jp/).
After seeing the trial pulls a week earlier we knew we were in for a treat during the actual Danjiri Matsuri. Unfortunately on Saturday (the 8th) it rained all day, which was tough on both the Crews and the spectators. However the sun came out on Sunday (the 9th) and we returned as well this time with the video camera to document this awesome hometown festival. Read more…
Nihon Buyo (Traditional Japanese Dance)
There are so many traditions in Japan which I don’t know about or I have never had a chance to actually experience myself. For example, “Geisha”. I had understood “Geisha” in a totally wrong way until Craig taught me! I knew how they look like, yet misunderstood what they did and had no ideas about their lives and customs back in the days. There might be many differences between Geisha during the war and those who currently work in Gion, Kyoto and I am pretty sure that they had lots of rules and customs compared to these days. Read more…
Scotch Fest 2005
4th Annual Scotch Fest Poster (2005)
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 Forth Annual Scotch fest 2005.
So bring your See ya Jimmy and get ready to crack your kranium.
7:00 PM AT 3045 ALBANY NOV 12th 2005
Hope to see you all then.
Cheers.
Scotch Fest “Aftermath” 2005
Speed Tribes by Karl Taro Greenfeld
Speed Tribes is an interesting look into the youth of 90’s Japan. Greenfeld finding himself bored with the usual stories in Japan is nearly run over by a Bosozoku (a motorcycle gang member [Bosozoku: literally translates as a tribe who drives violently against the law]) and there in the street he decided to tell not only their story but the story of youth in Japan in general. Read more…
Kishiwada Danjiri Trials 2005
Kana’s hometown of Kishiwada is famous all over Japan for their annual Danjiri Matsuri (Mobile Float/Shrine Festival). You can learn more about the historic roots of this wacky festival at the Kishiwada City homepage here.
There is always a Trial Day prior to the actual Matsuri, and we were able to go and enjoy the trial (training) pulls last weekend. I put a short video together that might give you an idea of what the Danjiri festival is like.
Everyone in the community (young and old) gets involved in this event. Our good friend Yai-Chan (of Making of the Mochi fame) was picked for traffic control and you can see him in the video making sure people stay out of the Danjiri’s way. Read more…
KaToRiShiA Burger Bash at Namba Parks
Last Sunday, Kana and I got together with her best friends for a burger. There was Tomo, her husband Koichi and their baby Yusuke. Rie was there, a bit tired from work being so busy. Junya and Ai were also there which was great because they became engaged to be married on August 24th (Ai’s birthday) and it was our first chance to celebrate with them…WAY TO GO GUYS!
We went to a restaurant at Namba Parks (a big shopping centre in Osaka) called Kua ‘Aina (http://www.kua-aina.com/) which is a franchise of the really famous burger joint on the far side of Oahu, Hawaii.
The burgers were huge. Kana and I opted for the Bacon, Lettuce Tomato Sandwiches and they were awesome. Everyone else went for one of the burgers that came with a whole avocado on them. YIKES!
We had a great time eating and shopping in Namba Parks. If you ever get a chance to go to Namba Parks you will not be dissapointed. It is very open and airy with lots of plants and of course excellent stores.
Kua Aina at Namba Parks
KaToRiShiA at Kua Aina