[ChisaChi]

That's fair enough, I think I'd prefer a similar suburban situation too in some ways. Although people's stories of being the town celebrity and being invited to lots of events sounds intriguing for me to not want to rule out the inaka. Playing with random town kids in rural China who thought my weird shaped eyes were incredible was pretty fun XD

Hrmm, just realised that newsletter with 7 people going from Canberra was from 4 years ago XD No indication if it's increased or decreased since then. From the article it looks like they all have a pretty impressive history in terms of experiences in and with Japan, like you do. I'm going to have to find a good angle to make my meager achievements look good!