danharman

He he, exactly what i am talking about rezinate! i subscribe to the daily alerts from hotham and every day this winter the report headlines "Snowguns have been running all night". Having said that, it is good to get out there (and it is snowing as i write this). Yamagata sounds great !

yeah i agree, but having been boarding in aus the last few seasons i am thinking i will not be disappointed wherever i end up! i mean we have an 8cm base at the moment !!

it is a complete unknown to be honest, but i figure being on honshu rather than hokkaido i can at least travel around a lot easier.

Cheers FT re: ECC. Had an interview with AEON yesterday, find out in 2 weeks whether I was successful. Requested a position in northern Honshu (Yamagata in particular). Will wait and see.

Yep, that last post I wrote was rather soft I have to admit !

Boarding everyday before work sounds appealing, but I am not sure I would be able to teach for the rest of the day. Looking at a job with ECC at the moment - they reckon you get 7 weeks holidays a year - this seems pretty high ?

Yeah it sounds like it is a little hit and miss with the schools. I am thinking my best approach is to get a job in the best school I can before I arrive, and then see how it goes. Seems like there are plenty of opportunities once I am actually in the country and have some experience.

Thanks for all the advice, sounds like JES may be worth applying for as well. Looking forward to the winter!

No worries. Gotta run, cheers for the words.

OK, will check out what the exact deal is with both companies re: accom. etc. There is also James English School (JES) which has schools in northern honshu which sound pretty good. Have you heard of JES ?

Yeah i am thinking that I will be giving up some work ideal purely due to the fact that i am arranging something in advance and having visa / accom. etc. sorted for me. Will see how it goes.

That I had heard. Nova seem to have a pretty bad reputation.

Cheers. I also have a couple of interviews lined up with AEON and also ECC. Have heard mixed reports about both schools. Know of them ?

Cheers mate for the advice. Will certainly look into it further, and the point re: hokkaido is a good one. Tokyo is of no interest (to live there, but to visit yes) and the same with osaka / kyoto. Anyway, there are certainly worse things to occupy my mind. Just wish I could get over there sooner, but Feb 07 is the earliest.

Defintely travel / experience etc. and also the real possibility of living near some decent mountains and a reliant snow fall. As much as I love dear old Mt Hotham in Victoria, it ain't really a mountain !

Sounds like a good gig I am also about to embark on the teaching English journey. Looking forward to it to be honest, I am well overdue of a change of direction.

I am moving to Japan for work, so will be staying for at least a year. After that, anyones guess!

Sounds ideal, thanks for the info Can I ask what you do (work wise) soubriquet ?

Cheers for the insight guys. It is hard not to get off-track thinking that niseko is the only mountain near saporro (which obviously not, and by the sounds of it not even that close). I guess what I am looking for is something quite Japanese - what i want to try and avoid is the Earls Court / London type scenario. Fun definitely, but not where I would want to live.

Excellent, cheers everyone. Will grab the map and go from there. I like the idea of northern japan (honshu). Re: ideal mountains, to be honest some of the threads on this forum has kind of put me off the whole saporro / niseko idea. Sounds like there are possibly far too many other Aussies doing the same, particularly holidaying in the resorts etc.. Fair comment ?

He he, fair enough ! Anyone else ?

Yep I was one of the many visiting Kyoto last time I was in Japan. Crazy times during cherry blossom season that is for sure ! Bushpig - any other thoughts on recommended locations ? Ideally I want to live in a town/city that is near some good mountains that are accessible by public transport (until i get a car) and has a good local vibe. Any comments / thoughts would be appreciated mate.

Thanks Fattwins, that is good news. With all of the car-imports from Japan in Aus, I was thinking that the car prices must be pretty good. Will first sort out the location and go from there. I notice that you are in Kyoto ? Would you recommend living there ?

Yeah I was thinking that buying a car might be a good option. A few questions though, is parking, rego., insurance etc. affordable (or at least similar to Aus) ? Cheers....

Heh TJ, At the moment it is looking like teaching; hence the exact location of where I exactly end up is also undecided. Cheers......Dan.