Hirado (平戸市 Hirado-shi?) Hirado city is located on the very norhtwestern tip of Kyushu and has the most western train station in Japan. The city council area is a large area covering many inhabited and uninhabited islands. It merged in 2006 out of Ikitsuki Island (生月町 Ikitsuki-cho?), Oshima Island (大島村 Oshima-mura?), Hirado Island (平戸市 Hirado-shi?) and Tabira (田平町 Tabira-cho?).
You'll find Hirado a great place to be in, if you don't mind Japanese countryside. It has nice beaches, lots of cultural sights and nice communities on the various islands. It is actually one of the better countryside places to be in and not so dull as other places can be. Lots of JETs from surrounding villages and towns come here in their weekends to go to the beach, visit the castle, walk around the historical sights such as temples and museums or to soak in one of the onsen (hot springs). Hirado has a great English website with all the information you need, including downloadable maps, event lists and more, so make sure to check it out.
Working
JET placements
There are 7 JETs in the Hirado area:
4 Hirado City BOE ALTs:
one based on Ikitsuki Island (Tachiura town)
one based on Oshima Island (Konoura hamlet)
one based on Hirado Island (Hirado city)
one based in Tabira (Tabira town)
All the ALTs have schools in their repsective areas and on Hirado island, as this is too large to be covered by the one ALT in Hirado.
2 Nagasaki Prefecture BOE ALTs:
one at Hirado Senior High School (Himosashi Village, Hirado Island)
one at Yukokan Senior High School (Hirado City, Hirado Island)
1 Hirado City Planning Division CIR
Dutch CIR based at the Hirado city hall
Incoming/Outgoing JETs
For summer 2009 the following positions are changing:
CITY BOE: ALT on Ikitsuki Island PREFECTURE BOE: ALT at Hirado High School
Foreign community
For a countryside town the city has a reasonable sized foreign community though not very visible with just over 40 foreign nationals registered at the city hall. Most of them are Asian and a few american. There are some south-american agricultural students as well. Most of the foreign community does not speak English however.
External links
- Hirado City Official Homepage (English)