[GoNative]

Well I found pretty much exactly what I was looking for when I moved to Japan. I wanted to live in a place that had snow to sea level. Hokkaido has snow to sea level for almost 5 months. I wanted to live and work at a ski resort, in the ski industry. I've done that for almost 8 years. I wanted to live a simpler, less consumeristic lifestyle. Rural Hokkaido is a great place for that. I wanted to live close to the outdoors with easy access to mountains, rivers, lakes and beaches. Within an hour of my house I have an abundance of all of those (many within 10mins of my house). I wanted to live in a close community, the sort of place where when you drive to work you know half the people in the cars you pass. Where the community does a lot of events and things together, where you know nearly everyone by name. I got that here as well.
Nothing in the above had anything really to do with Japanese culture. I knew almost nothing about Japan before coming here and had little interest in it at all beyond the fact that Japan had areas to live that fit the criteria above that I was looking for. I've come to love many aspects of the culture and am also incredibly frustrated by many aspects of it. I've lived in a community though that is not what you could call typical Japan. It is a mixed foreign/Japanese community where most people speak english and have travelled a lot. Many are here for similar reasons aas myself, getting away from the ratrace in the west or other parts of Japan to live a lifestyle centred around the outdoors and in particular winter sports. Instead of a lifestyle centred around materialism and making lots of money. Most people here earn very little money but they have lives full of adventure and great experiences. Living in this community has been one of the best experiences of my life that's for sure.