I'd always imagined Fukui to be similar to here. I've been there a few times and love it there. In fact, I'm planning on going again this month. The people there are so freakin' nice it's out of this world. When you get towards Kyoto, they all basically speak Kansai, from what I've encountered. When you get a little bit more in the heart of Fukui, it's a different story. I asked a gas station attendant some directions one time and thought he was making fun of me as a foreigner because of his accent. Once I figured out that's what Fukui-ben sounded like, I was quite surprised! It's quite a different accent... and this is coming from someone who speaks Toyama-ben haha. I think when most people see a foreigner, they try their best to use English or standard Japanese. This kid was probably tired from working all day and just spoke the way I assume he always spoke, and I was quite happy for it
. I love Diamond Beach, Eiheiji and all the little tourist stops. I went to a random place and just happened to be on time for an all you can eat 手作り流し茶そば. It was quite humbling getting completely worked by a few older ladies. I went to Sabae recently and their second hand shops are probably the best I've encountered in Japan as far as high end recording equipment goes (like mic pres, mics, etc). That's a pretty specific niche, but for whatever reason, Fukui has it, and I love it.
A few of you guys have mentioned the Chinese thing of yesterday. My wife's mom works at a conbini and we got the funniest mail from her last night. She was completely baffled at the fact that there was a group of about 30 Chinese who all came into her store at once!
I think a lot of Chinese people come to Toyama because our airport goes to China... that article just mentioned the big cities, but I have a feeling we got a lot of Chinese as well. Maybe they came to see their relatives who live here? I have no idea why they'd want to come to my town haha. (but I like it here so why not?)