More Info!

Hey guys! My awesome predecessor wrote me a nice, detailed e-mail answering my questions about what my life will be like in Japan :D
The apartment block is for teachers, so my neighbors will be other teachers at the elementary and junior high schools.
I will have running hot water (I'd heard some JETs had wound up without it in the past).
My supervisor will arrange for me to get a (probably rental) car, and I can do karaoke in nearby Ishikawa town (20 minutes away). She also suggested I go to Koriyama (1.5 hours away by car) for shopping, etc., on weekends.
There will be at least basic appliances in my apartment (it's looking like they'll be new, too).
My base school is Furudono Chuugakko (junior high).
The other stuff, in her words:
The job at the junior high is to help assist the JTEs (Japanese teachers of English) with their lessons, mainly pronounciation. Sometimes they will ask you for game ideas, or to make questions from the textbook. Sometimes you mark papers.
Everyday you have 2 or 3 50 minute lessons, the rest of the time you sit in the staffroom and can study Japanese, or prepare classes. You eat the school lunch in the staffroom with the other teachers.
You will be working with 2 male Japanese English teachers: Komaba sensei and Kikuchi sensei.
Komaba sensei teaches years 1 and 2, and Kikuchi sensei teaches year 3. They both have quite different teaching styles, but it wont take long to get used to it.
There is also a trainee English teacher, Sakuma sensei, he is only 22 and came in April. Generally he just watches the lesson (although he may start teaching soon, I'm not sure).
I found the teachers at the Junior High to be very friendly and warm, throughout the year you will be invited to various end-of-term dinners and the Bonnenkai (end of year party) These are a lot of fun.
You can drive to the Junior high or walk because its really close to your apartment. A 2-minute drive or maybe 10-minute walk. I always drove, though.
The first day, as I remember there will be a ceremony where they will ask you to do a short introduction to the school on the stage in Japanese. Doesn't have to be long, just your name and where you are from etc. (I'm sure the JET program prepares you for this).
The dress code at the junior high is fairly office-style clothing for women. The men and some women change into sports wear, but I generally stuck to pants, skirt, shirt, top. All pretty conservative.

Me again:
Sounds pretty good! I hope I have enough conservative clothing...
It kind of sucks that I'll have to drive, but maybe I'll get to like it... we'll see.
Otherwise, I'm really excited and I think it will be an amazing job :D

About Furudono

I've taken the time to study up on my town a little further (via it's part-Japanese, part-unreadable-by-my-English-OS website). It seems the town symbol is a little waterfall (kamakura-taki), and it is beautiful in the Autumn with a full range of color-changing leaves (kouyou). The area seems big on horseback riding in the Mikabu Highlands, and the local ancient sport is yabusame, which means archery on horseback. Unfortunately for me, it seems a local featured dish is pickled persimmon... I am not a fan of Japanese pickles, but I'll try the best I can to develop a taste for them because they are a big part of Japanese cuisine. There's a little history museum, as well, but I doubt that will take more than an afternoon to explore...
I'll have to take up hiking, eating bento box lunches under changing leaves, archery, horseback riding, archery on horseback... haha.
As long as I get to do my karaoke once a week, I think it'll all work out!

On the town website there are 10 restaurants listed: Snack Riverside, Yakitori Hyoutan, Pub Focus, Izakaya Horoyoi Fuyu (Izakaya Tipsy Winter, as in slightly drunk-tipsy) Ongaku (music - maybe this means I can do karaoke here!!!), Wafuu Restaurant (Wafuu=Japanese-style) Ongaku(unreadable kanji), Pub Academie, Okonomiyaki Konomi, Sushi(unreadable kanji-the size on the flash site is too small... I must be aging!), (Unreadable), and Yabusameno(archery on horseback)(unreadable) ofukuro(home-cooking)no(eki?=station?) . It seems there are also 11 ramen stands listed.
There appear to be a few onsen (hot spring) places, but I can't be sure.
The only thing listed under shopping is Ofukuro no (eki?), which is either the train station or a place to buy local souvenirs.
There is a place called "Cosmos Highway" that is a complete mystery to me.
There are a lot of places to go look at flowers ("natural beauty" seems to be the main feature of the area), many of which I've already mentioned.
There are many local festival events that seem to draw Japanese tourists, if not foreign tourists, and of course they have summer fireworks (hanabi).
More to come?