After I got married in Hawaii my wife and I moved to Japan. For the first year or so we had an apartment in Tokyo but our dive store was in the Kanagawa prefecture in the city of Hadano. Hadano is in the country and I always thought it was in a very beautiful spot. The mountains were close and I short 30 minute drive and you could be at the ocean. For a little over a year my wife and I would drive to and from work back to Tokyo and when it was just me I would take the train. My wife hates the train but Japan was the first place I ever road a train so I really enjoy riding trains.
We rented a very small house after about a year. It was in a group of about 4 houses on the edge of a giant rice field! It was a very old and simple house. In the winter it would be so cold in the house you could probably go outside and be warmer! The worst part of the house was that in the spring, summer and fall there were huge spiders that came in from the fields. I hate spiders! One time at night while I was sleeping one went across my face and I screamed like a little girl!! I refused to sleep there and instead slept on the floor of the dive store!
I have many wonderful memories of my time there and if I ever become a rich man I will spend at least half of the year in Hawaii and the other half in the Izu Penninsula!