Applying to JET, wondering about areas in Japan to live in

Hey all,

I'm graduating this spring and one of the options I have is to go to Japan with the JET program and teach English to Japanese students. It sounds like a good program, and they let you request an area in Japan to live in. I was wondering if anyone who has been there or who lives there has any comments...

I would like to live in a rural area or suburb (rather not a big city) but would like to be a few hours away from a big city (hopefully with a big VF scene /versus/images/icons/smile.gif)... Anyway, I can request from the fllowing blocks or prefectures: Hokkaido/Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku, Chubu, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikokou and Kyuushu/Okinawa...

Specific cities/towns I can request are: Hokkaido, Sapproro City, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Sendai City, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Saitama City, Chiba, Chiba City, Tokyo, Kangawa, Yokohama City, Kawasaki City, Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamanashi, Nagano, Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Nagoya City, Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Kyoto City, Osaka, Osaka City, Hyogo, Kobe City, Nara, Wakayama, Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Hiroshima City, Yamaguchi, Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kochi, Fukuoka, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka City, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa...

I know almost nothing about Japanese geography, so if anyone has any information about the above prefectures or cities that would be great... If not, I can always throw in a "No preference" response...

-Alex

 

Well, if you've access to the Usenet newsgroups, you can ask in the soc.culture.japan.* newsgroups. Ignore the perpetual flame wars in the newsgroups, and you'll probably get some constructive, educational comments. (FYI, I've been cut off from the newsgroups since '98.)

Another way is join, or ask in, the Living In Yokohama mailing list at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/liy/
This mailing list is nominally for foreigners living in Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture, about 45 minutes by train southwest of Tokyo, the capital of Japan; but in actuality, this mailing list is for anyone, living inside or outside Japan, who's interested in Japan. The adult, mature members of this mailing list will give you a lot of practical, useful assistance or links to resources. (FYI, I joined and lurk in this ML.)

 

First, I've never been part of the JET program, I've just lived and visited many parts of Japan, so take this with a grain of salt or something....

If you really want to get the "feel" of the Japanese culture, go to a small town or at least one that's kinda far from the big cities. It's also good if there aren't too many English speakers/Americans around. It's much more fun that way.

I'd recommend Okinawa if it weren't for the fact that 50,000 Americans live there too. It's a nice place and has an interesting culture that's a little different than what you might have learned about Japan. Only problem is that it's an island and the only way you're gonna go to Tokyo or anywhere in "mainland" Japan is to take a 2 hour plane ride. So you won't be doing too much travelling if you went there. The beaches are awesome though. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

You might want to consider Kitakyuushuu City. I actually have a friend that lives there. It's a nice place. It has a small town atmosphere but it's big enough for you to go exploring around. It's about 1.5hr away by bus to Fukuoka city. Fukuoka city is big and bustling with activity. I'd say Kitakyuushuu is like those towns you might see in animes. All the buildings are crowded together, school kids are walking all over the place and the trains go by at regular intervals. But there's not that much traffic (compared to other places I've seen in Japan). It's a decent sized city, but it's like one of those towns where you usually go to the next town to go do stuff. I stayed with my friend for 2 weeks there and during that time I might have seen two or three foreigners in that area. My friend says most (maybe all) of the Americans/English speaking foreigners in the area are from one of the English teaching programs. He's only seen a handful so I don't think too many people go there to teach.

Whereever you decide to go, if you stay in mainland Japan (basically means anywhere but Okinawa), you'll be able to travel to all the other places pretty easily.

However, if you go to Oki or kitakyuushuu city, I can tell you a lot of places to go play VF4 since I've scoped out all the major places already. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

 

Agreed. Fukuoka and Kitakyuushuu in Kyuushuu are fun. If, instead of down in Kyuushuu, he wants to stay in Honshuu, I suggest Nagoya in Aichi (say hello to Zero-chan for us), Oosaka in (well) Oosaka, and (of course) Yokohama in Kanagawa. I don't think he wants to be in an effectively nameless inaka village in the middle of nowhere in, say, Hokuriku or Touhoku. (@_@