[steel]

Good recommendation, GoNative. I really like the idea of recommending a place like Hokkaido as a first stepping stone to Japan. Although it's not what I did (and I am currently in Tokyo and Tokyo-centric), it's what a friend of mine did after his older brother strongly advised him to start out in Hokkaido (outside of Tokyo). He started out working in IT up there and he picked up Japanese quickly. When he re-located to Tokyo, he realized that his brother's advice was spot on. Had Tokyo been his first point of entry, he would have never bothered to learn the language as there were too many English-speakers and distractions for him here.