I don't know how long I'll be an ALT for. I first want to get to Japan and experience the country and the job before I decide. I've never been to Japan so I have no idea what it has in store for me. However, I've been interested in Japan for a long time so I'm hoping to work in the country for a while being an ALT or something else.

Man, I can very much relate. I too never been to Japan but always had my eyes set on it from the start, my early childhood also influenced me in Japan even more. So I'm always getting questions like, "where's the best place to live?" or "omg, so you need a visa just to do this?" and so on, but the picture is starting to get clearer at the moment thanks to research and people's help. I'm trying to hold it down here and finish everything I started, since I don't plan on moving back to California unless I'm visiting relatives or the like. So yeah, just being an ALT and getting out there is always a plus, maybe I'll reconsider and do the same in the near future, but for now I have more important things on my plate.

I also have this kind of question as I intend to try and move to Japan after I get my degree, I was thinking Tokyo, but no one has mentioned it as a decent place, why is that?

Of course when someone becomes fascinated with the Japanese culture they usually gravitate towards Tokyo. I know I did for a while. It's a big bustling city with a ton of lights that really sparks up your imagination and makes you feel like you're in an anime or another world. However, the bottom line is that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. It's also loud and there's just too many people at any given time. Many people prefer to live elsewhere and just travel to Tokyo on train. A large number of people that work in Tokyo live elsewhere and just commute to work. I feel that anime fans who got into the Japanese culture really should explore other cities of Japan besides Tokyo. I believe that Japan has more and better things to offer than just Tokyo.

Well, if you like nature then a rural area would probably be best. Here's a link that talks about prefectures:

Prefectures of Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was thinking, because I want to be a Psychologist (hence the degree) Tokyo is more than likely going to be the best place to go because of it's population density and such like.

Would you recommend other places?

An English Psychologist in Japan? You'll probably have to speak fluent Japanese. Hell, I'll be coming over to Japan in a few years as an English teaching assistant so I really can't help you out on that one.

Well, because I'll be at Uni I can get Japanese lessons for nothing and I'm already teaching myself (around revising and procrastinating) Japanese anyway.

They'll give you a visa if you have "fluent" or "functional" Japanese, I think, which means I'll have to take the weird proficiency test.

You don't get visas based on your Japanese language ability. Unless I'm missing something here?