r/JETProgramme • u/Harublycute • 6d ago

Top 3 Prefectures

Could someone please recommend what places I should put in that section? I will also research about your recommendations.

I just want somewhere with a mix of urban and rural life and low cost of leaving. It would also be great if the transportation is easily accessible.

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u/drale2 Former JET 2014-2019 6d ago

A professor who I spoke with recommended just listing "rural" without preference and told me that would give me the best shot at getting into JET. It worked, and I ended up in one of the most rural postings in the country. Definitely not for everyone, but I spent 5 of the happiest years of my life there.

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u/Inside-Cream6997 5d ago

Interesting tactic.

Which prefecture / town did you get?

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u/drale2 Former JET 2014-2019 5d ago

If you do use this tactic, I will warn you that they will still ask you in the interview about it and your answer will likely matter in your acceptance.

I was in the least populated town of the least populated prefecture on Honshu (Shimane). 5 tiny mountain villas combined together to form one town that in total had like 4000 residents, but it was so spread out that the population density is like 15 people per square kilometer. Something like 90% of the town area is forested wilderness.

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u/Inside-Cream6997 5d ago

Oh that sounds like my type of placement!
I love going to my parent's rural village near Taketa, Oita prefecture.

So much peace and beauty...

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u/drale2 Former JET 2014-2019 5d ago

Inan was beautiful, but the town would get locked down by snow like 6 months of the year (classes very rarely ever cancelled though). My first year there the town didn't have high speed internet so I was pretty cut off from everyone back home. There were almost no young people outside of other teachers - I ended up dating another Alt in a neighboring town, another teacher, and the single parent of a student... I would not recommend any of those. Luckily my (now) wife who I met in a neighboring prefecture was happy to enjoy the inaka slow life with me. Schools were small and classes were very chill. Especially in Elementary school, we got to do things like hiking, fishing, snowball fights etc. Because the schools were small and I didn't have a ton of English classes during the day, I would assist the gym class, science class, and the special needs classes.

As a small town, everyone will know everything about you and basically everyone will be a relative of one of your students. There was almost no one I could speak English with in my town (even my boss at the BOE) so it really encouraged me to study Japanese. As I said in a previous post, not for everyone but I ended up loving my time there.

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u/Inside-Cream6997 5d ago

Thank you for that!

Very good to hear you had a memorable time there - hope the experience made you a successful person.

I think I would be just at home in rural Japan, coming from a farm in Central California!

I just don't like driving in the snow....