Job Discussion Forums

[psarge]

I will be teaching in Utsonomiya in January. Anyone know anything about this town or have places where i can find some more information?

Thanks.
psarge

[lajzar]

This should probably go in a faq somewhere.

Unless you are talking about a really big city (ie Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya), chances are reasonably good that there is more than one community with any given place name. For example, there are 3 Uenos, 3 Asahis, and 2 Akitas in Japan. And that' just the ones visible on an online map I have.

PLEASE, specify the prefecture you are talking about, as well as the town. It makes a real difference.

[shmooj]

http://www.city.utsunomiya.tochigi.jp/

That's the link to the city's homepage. Japanese only I'm afraid but it might be useful to you if you have some of the language.

A simple websearch at Google will pull up a lot of stuff including
http://members.aol.com/kenmazuoka/990928KenU.htm
which looks interesting

Lajzar, I have atlas software. I put in Utsunomiya and got only one kanji match. I searched. I got 425 matches all in the same city of Utsunomiya - Tochigi.

So, I'm presuming that there is only one Utsunomiya and that the OP wasn't too naive...

[guest of Japan]

You hit the jackpot today. I'm the Dave's resident Utsunomiya expert.

Let's see,
-population about 400,000.
-direct train and shinkansen to Tokyo. One is expensive the other is time consuming.
-most white collar jobs are in the engineering field as companies like Honda and Fuji Heavy Industries have huge complexes there.
-the people can be a little cold, conservative and cheap, but they are usually very sincere and kind.
-the bosozoku run up and down the main street for most of the night, so pray your apartment isn't there.
-there is no subway or light rail system but buses run all over town.
-if you wish to meet other foreigners your best bet is to try the Lion's Head Bar on a Friday night. Or Izzy's on a Saturday.

Ask some specific questions and I'll be happy to provide some specific answers.