Quote:
Originally Posted by Ungarmax
From what I have read of the Osaka area it isnt too hot or cold, but there is some of both. Wikipedia puts the lows during the coldest part around 30F and the highs around the high 90's. The whole country is near large bodies of water though, which should help to regulate the temperatures and give some nice breezes. Don't take my word for it though, I'll be finding out for myself for the first time in a few weeks.
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I'm sorry but the whole breeze thing isn't true. I don't live in Osaka or Kyoto or in that area, but I don't recall a single cool breeze (except literally next to the water in Osaka). This makes for particularly humid and wet summers (especially in Kyoto). I think that mountains as well as other factors play a big part in that. 30F is cold enough to snow, but I haven't heard of it really snowing much in those areas. I think that when it does snow it melts really quickly.
Unfortunately Japan has apparently been getting hotter in recent history. I know that at least for the area where I live, looking at older pictures of the winter and hearing peoples' stories, I can see that things have changed. This last winter was particularly bad for us (in that we got a lot of snow) but that would've been an average winter 10-15 years ago. Additionally, the summers have been getting hotter supposedly. I can't really tell about that from pictures and stuff so I'm just going by what people've told me. So while the mild times in my area are absolutely wonderful, they get a little bit trunkated. We naturally have long winters, but now the summers are getting a little bit logner as well thus causing shorter falls and springs.
Which is something else to consider, I don't know if all of this side of Japan (the left side when you look at a map) gets it, but we get sand that comes from the gobi desert in the spring which causes the sky to turn red/yellow (even in the morning) and it will dirty up windows/cars/and clothes.
I think what we're all trying to point out is that Japan doesn't really have a mild climate. You might have some areas that are more mild than others during the summer, but you pay for it in the winter. Likewise if you have an area with easier winters, you're probably gonna pay for that in the summer.
I think hunerofpeace said he or she is more comfortable with hotter weather than colder weather (or at least that's what they've been used to), so speaking stirctly about weather, I thought maybe Kyushu or the southern part of Honshu might be a good idea for that. However, considering the type of area in which they wanna live, I'm inclined to believe that MMM is on the right track by suggesting somewhere just north of Tokyo.
Sorry to be blunt, but I'm sure that a lot of JET applicants are gonna write down all the places close to Tokio and Kiyoto, so even if you put those down as your top choices there's a big chance they might just throw you in the middle of nowhere anyways. It is my opinion that while there are fewer people in those "middle of nowhere" type towns, you may have a very good time interacting with those folks, who I'm sure will be glad to have you.