My Predecessor & Living Situation

Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN has a global network of alumni that constantly surprises me. Through a friend, I was connected with a Mac graduate and current JET ALT in Japan named Lauren. She gave me a wealth of information and has been instrumental in my preparations. Through Lauren, I was introduced to a number of other grads currently teaching English in Japan. When I found out my placement, I informed my contacts and to my surprise, someone knew an ALT named Dori from Mori, Japan, only about 30 miles south of Yakumo! I contacted Dori who connected me with the current ALT in Yakumo, Laura! I am relatively certain that Laura is my predecessor, and I have heard from her at length about my living situation. That's networking at its finest, people! Most ALTs have not yet been connected with their local boards of education or predecessors, so I am extremely fortunate to have this extra time and information to prepare myself.

While Laura kindly wrote me about 10 pages of information, I will give you the abridged version of my situation. Tom and I will be living in an apartment that is large for Japanese standards with 2-bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. I will be living rent-free, with the use of a car (new last year) and laptop for work from my local board of education. My predecessor has a number of great items for me to purchase from her including her car (for personal use - seemingly essential in rural Japan), her kotatsu (heated living room table for winter), and kitchen items. 
I will be roaming between Yakumo's Junior High Schools, facilitating a biweekly English circle, and occasionally teaching some pre-school and special classes for special need students and children who have been hospitalized.
While being placed in a small town in Japan is undesirable for many JETs, I am so pleased to have a board of education that places value in having an ALT in their town, not having to pay sky-high rent prices of a city, and having room to roam in the mountains. Additionally, I have heard that my direct supervisor is one-in-a-million: she speaks excellent English, is the kindest person I will ever meet, and is super helpful when I am getting functionally set up in Japan- with my bank account, foreign resident card, and navigating the paperwork and bureaucracy that international travel and everyday life brings.
Hooray for Yakumo-cho!

Yakumo-cho, Hokkaido

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from JET about my placement notification:

Prefecture:  北海道  Hokkaido

Contracting Organization:  八雲町  Yakumo-cho

Yakumo-cho is a town with a population of about 20,000 located in Oshima in Hokkaido, essentially on the southern hook of the northern-most prefecture (that giant island at the top). Here is a tourist website with more information about southern Hokkaido. Yakumo has a legendary Lantern Parade Festival that I cannot wait to attend!
I couldn't be happier about my placement. Everyone says, "Oh, Hokkaido! I have never been there, but my aunt/friend/etc. took a trip there and said it was beautiful! It is cold and snowy." I expect the weather to be much like Minnesota, with more snowfall because of the water vapor in the air. While I will be far away from Tokyo and many of the bigger cities of Japan, I have spent the last 6 years of my life in the Twin Cities metropolis, and I am ready for a transition to a simpler life in rural Japan, in a town where I will know my neighbors and make many personal connections.