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[Ashley_05]

Hi. Does anyone have info on Hanno, Saitama, japaan? How is the town like? Anyone working for Kidz Talk school in Hanno. What would you say about the school? Any information about this town and school would be of great help
thanx

[kakapo]

Hi

I don't know anything about the school but I did live in Iruma (a neighbouring city) from 1996 to 1999 so can supply some information about Hanno. (Of course some things might have changed.)

Hanno is on the edge of the Tokyo urban area, about an hour from Ikebukuro station. (You can save time, but not money, by taking the infrequent 'Red Arrow'.) At Hanno station is a department store (PePe) with a good supermarket in the basement and the landmark Prince Hotel (both owned by Seibu). The rest of the city is low-rise and rather dowdy. (I don't mean to sound negative.) There's a hillside neighbourhood that reminded me of a new suburb in New Zealand - clean but empty. It's quite different to the city down on the flat.

You can easily go into the countryside for hiking - seemingly the preserve of the middle-aged and elderly - or something less strenuous. In a loop in the river near Koma (on the Seibu Chichibu line) about a million 'fireflowers' or higanbana, and a similar number of Japanese, appear every autumn. And if you are a fan of the Moomins - or even if you are not - there's a theme village near the city's baseball stadium.

The Hanno International Association(?) is a group of friendly, English-speaking locals worth contacting. Try the city office if the school staff can't help you. There are other English schools and foreign teachers in the city. (In 1999 there was a GEOS and a NOVA.)

Good luck.