[steven]

It just so happened that I went to four different day cares in my area for work recently. I asked them how their hours were (beign a foreigner living in Japan, I like to learn about stuff like that to kind of build my understanding of the mechanics of things). They said that the preschools will usually end at around 5 or 6. Sometimes kids have to stay later because their parents are both working. However, not every school will have those late hours, so sometimes they move the kids around in the evenings. Also, Saturdays and Sundays are unusual (Sundays I think being non existant except once in a blue moon at one of the schools). So on Saturdays (and sometimes Sundays) parents will bring their kids to a school that is open. As a JET, you WILL work on the weekends occasionally.

Just pause for a second and imagine trying to deal with all that in a foreign language... while you're busy with work. If you're in the super country side, mind you, this situation may not even exist at all (as in no "practical" daycare).

Incidentally, even in the country side, grandparents are looking after their grandchildren less and less (not that there's anything against that... maybe they have other grandchildren they look after or maybe they live in another area).

Another thing you should consider is bullying. I'm the type that thinks a little bit of bullying (both ways) is a pretty natural and normal thing that happens with kids, but sometimes things can go too far. If you have a foreign kid in a pre school in Japan, they will be bullied on a daily basis for sure (not necessarily physically, but verbally). I'm not sure how that would work with a language barrier though. There was one kid at one of the day cares who was foreign (who was basically Japanese with a foreign face), and you could tell that kids would get on his case some times (although most of the time they were friendly to him). Depending on your kid or the kids that are bullying, that could escalate into behavioral problems that would be hard for the day care people to deal with (as your kid might not speak Japanese and they certainly won't speak English).

One other thing you need to think about is the fact that you are a single parent. I'm not going to speculate and say why you are a single parent, but the Japanese in your "country side" community certainly will. I feel like I'm going too far for saying that, but you will definitely get questioned about that ALL THE TIME. I can say that where I live, while they are increasing more and more, divorces are seen as the cause for a lot of problems that kids have. Even being a JET, you are still considered a government employee with which comes a lot of responsibilities (like being a model citizen). There are certainly exceptions in the ALT community as well as the Japanese community to what I just said, but it is certainly expected of everyone.

As far as the "Sea of Japan" side of Japan, the winters are pretty harsh. I've never really travelled far during the winter, the most I've seen is Ishikawa and Toyama during the winter and they get pretty good now (and thunder snow, which is apparently a rare occurance in this world). I suspect Fukui would get a lot of snow. Niigata... well I'm fairly certain the book titled "Snow Country" was set in Niigata, so I'll just leave it at that. When you get stuck in the mountains of those areas, the amount of snow can get crazy.

I'm sure you are very strong and ready to take on anything, as a single parent and all, but how does your kid think about that? Do you think your kid would be able to deal with such a 180 degree change in life? I agree with what MMM said, from JET's point of view, I don't really see why they would hire you over a single person (ie no kids & no partner) who has just graduated from college. You'd better think of some very good reasons why they would if you want to get in. That's the reality of this as I see it.

EDIT: Espie, how old are you by the way? Also, although they may say this every where they have JET offices, apparently getting into JET through the Los Angeles branch is the hardest of all of them as there are the most applicants from that area. In otherwords if you are in LA then your chances are very slim... but that is for them to decide and not me of course.