Job Discussion Forums

[Angelfish]

I'm still waiting to hear where I'm going to be sent (and the waiting is slowly driving me mad ), so I thought I'd ask where wouldn't you want to be placed and why?

Some example of places I wouldn't want to be placed in England are:
Middlesborough - Transport links bad, rundown town, chav majority
Scunthorpe - Went to college here, dead-end nowhere town
Welsh Valleys - Some nice parts, but generally chav-central, rundown.
Bradford/Huddersfield - Rundown Yorkshire towns
Hull - Deadend, rundown, rough city.

Please don't be offended if I've mentioned anywhere you live I have very close connections to Scunny and Hull myself

[PAULH]

I think they call it Hachijima Island. several hundred kilometers due south of Tokyo. accessible by ferry.

Active volcano and still very high sulfur levels.

[angrysoba]

I think it depends alot on what kind of 'Japanese experience' you are looking for. You can probably enjoy any place in Japan if you are looking for something that is just different from England.

But:

If you prefer the countryside to the city then clearly Tokyo or Osaka wouldn't be a good place for you to go.

Nagano is one of the most beautiful places I have been to in Japan and it has amazing scenery. It's not a good place to go if you don't like mountains though.

The 'chaviest' place I have ever been to (as far as chavs exist in Japan) is Amagasaki between Kobe and Osaka.

[Angelfish]

GEOS have just rung! I'm going to KUSHIRO in Hokkaido!

[angrysoba]

Nice! Congratulations

[kdynamic]

There are LOTS of tings that will influence your experience more than placement. Such as the friends you make, how well you like your job, how well you get along with your coworkers and boss, how nice the apartment you live in is... etc etc. I know people who were sworn city kids who are now happy as clams in tiny mountain villages, and people who got placed in downtown metropolises and hate the concrete jungle and stranger in a crowd syndrome. And the reverse too of course. Truth is, you just won't know until you get there.

That said, Tottori sucks.

[moot point]

PaulH wrote

[Apsara]

I didn't see the last line of PaulH's post and was wondering why he wouldn't want to go to Hachijojima- I wish I could live there! For Miyakejime though I'll
wait until the poison gas levels go down. And I remember the constant earthquakes we felt in Kanagawa when the volcano was about to blow in 2000- around 10 a day- can't imagine what it was like there.

OP, I hope you like the cold, I was about to answer "anywhere where the temp regularly goes below 0 deg C" but I'm a complete wimp about the cold.

For me also- anywhere in Saitama. I know some people like it but the most depressing times I have spent during my time in Japan were when I lived in Koshigaya and Toda cities, unintentionally, as my companies placed me there. I couldn't get out fast enough.

[Yawarakaijin]

Hey there Fish, congratulations on your posting. I lived in Kushiro my first year in Japan. The experience will be, like most things in life, what you make of it.

The city itself is wholly uninspiring but I found the people to be pretty amazing. Its still a part of Japan where foreigners are rare. I was rarely able to make it out to an izakaya without some stranger trying to sit by me, start up a conversation and then offer to pay for my meal. I had mama's of shops and bars introducing me to their daughters on a couple of occasions, a truly weird experience. I have yet to experience anything like that in Tokyo. That being said sometimes its nice to just be left alone. On the downside though I did bump into the odd mother who would grab their childrens hand and pull them away from the side of the sidewalk that I was walking on. You will get calls from kids on the street wanting to practice their English with you.

The entertainment district is called Suehiro I believe. I was housed only a few minutes away which was great. It is by no means a huge districet but the amount of bars in the area will blow you away. Imagine a large apartment building complex where each apartment is its own little bar! Its quite fun, after doing a year i didnt even come close to hitting all the bars I wanted too. I dont know if it still exists but there is a small little gaijin hangout called Party0n. The mama there was great.

If you are into skiing or snowboarding you have been placed in a great area. Making friends who have cars or getting one yourself will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the city. There are numerous national parks in the area and the skiing is pretty good, no lines for sure:)

I've lived in Tokyo and Kushiro, the two extremes of Japan and I will admit I had alot more fun in Kushiro. Enjoy your time there!

T

[womblingfree]

[Angelfish]

Thanks a lot, Yawarakaijin Sounds like it should be good. I do like snowboarding, gonna get my parents to send out my board later in the year and I'm just applying for my International Drivers' Licence, just in case a car becomes an option (I doubt it, but best to be prepared).

What's the area like for shrines and temples? The most mention it got in Lonely Planet was about the marsh I've seen that there's supposed to be some of the best onsens in Hokkaido.

Thanks

[einsenundnullen]

The list of places I've visited that I, as a foreigner, would not want to live in...

Nice, but too far out of the way: Nagano, Ehime, Shimane, Tottori, the southern tip of the Boso peninsula (southern Chiba-ken). Amongst the mountains of the Chugoku mountain range.

Unattractive (no offence, folks): practially the entire Chubu region, especially Nagoya, less a few parts of Gifu-ken. Tokyo's 23 wards.

Great places (which to me, these days, basically means convenient): many, many places in Kansai, several parts of Tokyo-to, Kanagawa-ken, and Chiba-ken.

[womblingfree]

I think the only places I wouldn't want to end up are some dull suburbs miles from anywhere. Although I suppose I'd buy a car if that happened and so could end up seeing more.

Even then if you've never been to Japan it'll probably be exotic.

[Le Creature]

How about Hitachi City in the Ibaraki Prefecture? Please be honest people. I've only just been told that this is my set location (for now) and due to my research it is quite an industrial city...

Of course I don't want to judge and kill all the excitement, but I'd love to hear peoples' honest opinions. Don't be shy now...but don't describe it as a hell-hole either! - other than teach, will there be much to do there?

[sallycat]

Osaka's dormitory suburbs/suburban cities: disgustingly polluted, ugly, and boring as shit.