Turns out I will soon be the happy, albeit confused, resident of Ota city in Gunma prefecture. With a population of about 217k, the city sounds pretty small, and yet is the third largest city in Gunma. Descriptions of the city seem to vary between very industrial and international to being dominated by farm land. I have to say that such a combination is one of the many reasons I applied to be a JET in the first place. I do hope the international part is true, however, since my Japanese is as of yet quite elementary.
Since my information on Ota is limited, I am mostly excited that I will be so close to Tokyo. Only an hour and 10 minutes away (via bullet train, I suppose) for a mere ¥2030 (~$20) or so, I'm feeling wealthier already. The idea of a leisurely trip to Tokyo over the weekend makes me absolutely giddy. Art, music, fashion, architecture, historical sites, shopping, photography, people watching... there is nothing I don't love.
Lesson #1: Stick to a budget in Japan, and I can manage anywhere.
Once I received notification of my placement, I had the rather terrifying/exciting realization that this is really going to happen.
...
Kind of amazing.
That's all for now.
Cheers.
panda Baer
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