I guess some people might be curious as to just where it is in Japan that I live. I’ll be moving soon but currently I live in Hiroshima Prefecture. (A Japanese prefecture is somewhat like an American state.) Like New York State, Hiroshima Prefecture is most famous for its largest city which shares the same name. Hiroshima City and New York City both have somewhat infamous reputations that unfortunately put a stigma on the greater area, but surprisingly Hiroshima Prefecture, like New York State, is largely rural.

I live in a small town named Tojo. Tojo means “East Castle” (as opposed to the neighboring town of Saijo or “West Castle”.) Apparently Tojo used to be quite the samurai town in ancient times but now there’s barely any ruins where the castles used to stand. Anyhow, Tojo is about three hours to the northeast of the bustling Hiroshima City. Only 10,000 people live in this surprisingly expansive area. Tojo is extremely mountainous and heavilly wooded. The flat valleys which lie between the green mountains are covered with rice paddies and loosely scattered with farmer`s houses. Tojo being a mountain town sits at a very high altitude. In fact, when driving up from Hiroshima my ears tend to pop like I`m taking off in an airplane. Tojo`s high altitude also causes the temperature to be consistently a few degrees lower than most of the rest of the prefecture. In winter this means snow. And snow plus mountains makes for some great local skiing, or so I`ve heard. This winter was surprisingly mild and I’m thankful for that.

Within Tojo my job title is ALT, or Assistant Language Teacher. I work for a company called David English House which shipped me off to teach English here. I visit every school in the town. That means two junior high schools and six elementary schools. They aren’t very big schools though. One elementary school only has 15 students in the entire school! Japan has a big problem with declining population. People just aren’t having many kids. The problem is the worst in very rural areas like this where most people are over age 60 and schools keep closing.

Anyhow, Tojo is a beautiful place with kind people, and it’s actually surprisingly convenient with highway access and complete with a 24 hour 7-11. I’m glad to have worked here.