REGINA — Mervin Tran is experiencing the life he expected to have in figure skating — but with a twist.

"I always wanted to compete internationally," the 19-year-old Regina product says from his new home base of Montreal, "but I never thought I'd be doing it in pairs — and for Japan."

Tran started skating when he was four in the hopes of playing hockey, but he was told early on that he needed to take lessons to become a better skater. The lessons he took were taught by figure skaters, who inspired Tran enough that he ditched the shinpads and stick and took up figure skating at the age of eight.

Things changed for him again in the spring of 2007 with what Tran calls "a random phone call."

"I was just doing singles skating," recalls the graduate of W.S. Hawrylak School and Campbell Collegiate. "I wasn't bad and I wasn't good. I was middle of the pack in nationals. Then a coach down here (in Montreal) called my coach (in Regina) and asked if he knew someone who could skate pairs. The coach said he had a girl from Japan who was looking for a partner.

"When I was first asked if I was interested, I said, 'Not really.' Then I decided to do it."

According to International Skating Union regulations, only one member of a pairs team has to be from the country the partners are to represent in competitions. The only event in which that isn't the case is the Winter Olympics.

So as soon as Tran was paired with Narumi Takahashi, the young Canadian became a representative of Japan on the international stage.

"It was weird to get used to," Tran admits. "I'm not Japanese at all. In fact, I have a Chinese background. But (officials from Japan's figure skating federation) have been really welcoming and really supportive. I don't have too much to complain about."

Tran and Takahashi — an 18-year-old product of Chiba, Japan — have just completed their third season together. It was their best as a team, highlighted by a second-place finish at the ISU world junior championships in The Hague, Netherlands in early March.

They've certainly come a long way from the teenagers who were thrown together, sight unseen, in '07.

"It was strange at first, but it wasn't too difficult," Tran says of teaming up with a stranger. "I don't have a problem meeting new people. I'm a little bit of a goofy guy, so I used that to break the ice. She was quiet and OK.

"The good thing was, we both had the same mindset: We wanted to skate and to compete internationally and kick some butt. The first year was hard because it was a learning year, but (Japanese skating officials) threw us out there against the best in the world.

"We were just figuring things out, so we got our butts kicked by everyone else — and in some senior competitions, too. But we showed good promise and the coaches liked it."

Strangely enough, the partnership also flourished because of the language barrier. Tran says that Takahashi's English when he met her was "not bad," but the partners didn't talk a lot as they endured their early struggles — and they still don't.

"When we're having difficulties with each other, we don't really talk to each other — which is a good thing," Tran says. "That's usually the cause of breakups in pairs skating. One says, 'You should do this,' the other says, 'No, you should do this,' and they start bickering.

"When we have problems, I say, 'You should do this,' and she says, 'What?' Then she says, 'You should do this,' and I say, 'What?' Then we end up saying, 'Whatever. We'll just do it again.' "

That's not to say the pair hasn't hit some rough patches over the past three seasons, but any concerns about the team appear to have been eased by its showings this season.

Tran says he and Takahashi medalled in every junior competition they entered and — while they originally skated in senior competitions just to get some experience — they now believe they can contend for medals in those events, too.

At the moment, the list of senior competitions on the partners' slate doesn't include the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

"(Competing there) depends on a lot of things," Tran says. "Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship, so if I switch, I'd have to switch completely to Japan. I'd have to live there and everything (to become a citizen and thus be eligible to compete for Japan in the Olympics).

"It's everybody's dream to skate in the Olympics; it's my dream, too. But my coach said, '(Being in the Olympics) is only two weeks of your life. Yeah, it's a great experience, but citizenship is like five years out of your life — and all for two weeks.' I'm still on the fence for that."

It's not the first time Tran has faced some indecision, though. Even before he debated whether or not to skate with Takahashi, he had to decide what he was going to do with his life.

"A few years ago, I said to myself, 'I'm going to skate or I'm going to school; one or the other,' " Tran says. "Next thing I know, I'm in Montreal skating for Japan. After that, I learned to take things year by year."

ihamilton@leaderpost.canwest.com