mickblayz 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Hay! My wife and I are Aussies moving to Japan for a year or two, to teach English. I was wondering if any one has worked in, or near an Alpine area in Japan, or at least knows anyone who might have. The primary reason we are moving over there is to ski, teaching English is a means to an end. We are looking at Niseko in Hakkaido, or Nazawa/Hakuba in Nagano. Open to all other recommendations. We want to live close to the slopes and preferably work close to them, but understand that may not be an option, hence any suggestions for areas with the closest proximity to regions we would be most likely to find work, would be greatly appreciated. I've searched the site and found very little, any help would be great! Cheers Mick Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Finding two teaching vacancies in the resorts you mention is not going to happen. Hakuba's population is 9000, I would imagine Nozawas and Nisekos are much smaller. There's very little demand for foreign teachers. If you can get hooked up in Sapporo or Nagano City, you'll have done very well. Anywhere an hour or so away. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Mr Wiggles is right. You'll need a city not a small ski town. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 (just my assumption but) You will also be competing with people who have lived here for several to many years, probably speak the language and know the culture, have experience teaching (esp Japanese people), and have qualifications to teach, which might make it more difficult to get the exact area you would like to live. Big cities within an hour drive or so of resorts would be your best bet. You could look at Matsumoto in Nagano and Mr. Wiggles examples too. www.ohayosensei.com www.gaijinpot.com www.jobsinjapan.com also have information for you to check. Hope it works out! Link to post Share on other sites
Mudguts 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Agreed with the above responses. Real difficult/impossible to get teaching work very near to the slopes you mentioned. I'd say you'd have a reasonable chance to get work in Nagano city and Niigata city and a very good chance to get work in Sapporo. You'd be less than an hour away from quality skiing in those cities. I wouldn't mention in the interviews that you want to teach English just so you can go skiing either. Good luck Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Yamagata is worth a try, with Zao Onsen on its doorstep. Sendai is probably big enough for you both to get work, but it's further from the snow. Link to post Share on other sites
thefunkydrummer 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 It's also worth looking into places that are not particulary famous for their skiing. For example, I live in Fukui - basically a rural, unknown location, yet there are 9 smallish ski areas less than an hours drive away, and I love it here. Check out my blog for pics and stories of my area: www.thefunkydrummer.blogspot.com It's worth doing a little research into these smaller, unfamous areas because there will be less competition for jobs there, yet they can still provide a great season of snow sport. There are many small private English schools around that are looking for teachers, but you may have to get to Japan first, and scout it out. I wasn't expecting much from Fukui, but I got a season of powder days last year, and am having more of the same this year. There are hundreds of lesser known locations, which still have good skiing - Ishikawa, Gifu, Gunma, Niigata, Toyama - the list goes on. good luck... Link to post Share on other sites
boardbaka 3 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 You could try Himeji city- Its a beautiful place and surely big enough- an hour by train to the slopes Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 agreed boardbaka. Great little city. Which slopes is it an hour from?? Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted January 21, 2006 Author Share Posted January 21, 2006 Awesome! Thank you all. By the sounds of it I guess we’ll reside to working in the larger cities (if all goes well of course!) Nagano city, Sapporo. I’ll also look into Matsumoto, Yamagata and Himeji, cheers. Any one live in either Sapporo or Nagano and regularly do the commute to Niseko or Happo One/Nozawa. If so what’s it like? Time? Train, bus or car? Kinda leaning to Sapporo for work, and possibly skiing Sapporo Teine as the local hill and doing trips to the larger ones. Have a mate that skied Sapporo Teine and loved it, but am definitely opened for any other suggestions, for locals in or around Sapporo, Nagano etc. And yes there definitely is a lot to be said in just getting to Japan and scouting it out, may as well do as much research from here first, I guess. Thanks Again! Mick Link to post Share on other sites
jared 0 Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Try these cities Aomori Morioka Kitakami Mizusawa Akita Yamagata Otaru Hakodate Sapporo Link to post Share on other sites
Davo 1 Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 I think that, apart from Sapporo, Nagoya has the best proximity to snow out of all the big cities. Sendai is fairly big too and close to some good resorts I think. Sapporo sounds like the go to me for you guys. A big city with local ski hills and near Nisseko can't be all bad. Himeji is close to Hyogo-ken resorts, the pick of which is Hachi-Kita. It's pretty good for a day trip from where I am, and it's a lot easier than the Nagano mission, but I'd say Himeji should maybe be one of your last choices. Living in a big city is good for the work opportunities, and I'm always kind of jealous of the Nagoya crew being much closer to the Gifu and Nagano resorts. Link to post Share on other sites
woywoy 0 Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Get a car. You will want the freedom of it if you are living in a country town and wanting to ski/ride a lot. Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted January 24, 2006 Author Share Posted January 24, 2006 NPM or All Do you have any info on the costs associated with buying a relatively cheap second hand car, any issues like registration, insurance etc. Are there any unique processes for a foreigner buying a car, like "key money" Cheers Mick Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Mick, Most of the info you might want about cars can be found here . That site also has a lot of info on living in Japan, so have a bit of a look around. Finding a cheap car is actually not that hard because most people here drive cars around 10 years max, meaning that a car that would be considered middle-aged in Oz is considered old here. "old" cars can be picked up for a grand or two quite easily. The other costs discussed on the above page will be what will get you, so have a think about it. But if you want snow, then it is almost definitely worth it. Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted January 24, 2006 Author Share Posted January 24, 2006 Thanks Bushpig, great site. Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted January 24, 2006 Author Share Posted January 24, 2006 One more question guys, If we were to get jobs in Nagano, whould any one have some recommendations on a decent local (20-30min away from Nagano City) resort/hill. Cheers Mick Link to post Share on other sites
RockyV 0 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 from Nagano the closest is Iizuna 15mins or togakushi 30mins, bit longer in the snow maybe, that's from my house, depending where you lived nagano might look small on the map, but it can take you 30mins or longer to drive from one side to the other Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 RockyV Appreciate the info. Thanks! Looking them up as we speak. Cheers Mick Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted January 30, 2006 Author Share Posted January 30, 2006 Hi RockyV If you have any contacts at all, for jobs in Nagano, it would be greatly appreciated. PM or email me if you like. Cheers Mick Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Check out Matsumoto in Nagano as well I really like that place And you could be in Hakuba in less than an hour And gateway to the North, South and Central alps Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 I have liked what I've seen of Matsumoto as well, seems like a decent place to be. Definitely in a good location. Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by Toque: Check out Matsumoto in Nagano as well I really like that place And you could be in Hakuba in less than an hour And gateway to the North, South and Central alps From Matsumoto to Hakuba in an hour? Is that by train, bus or car? Link to post Share on other sites
mickblayz 0 Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 Hey Guys, A big thank you for your comments, to date, Any opinions on the following cities to live and play in the snow; - Matsumoto - Nagano - Nagoya - Sapporo - Niigata Cheers, Mick Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 With those choices: - Matsumoto - Nagano - Sapporo Link to post Share on other sites
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