The Montana of Japan?

Kyushu, come on down! We have a winner. I have gotten my assignment and I am not sure how I feel about it, but for now I will go with cautiously optimistic. Kyushu is the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu). I have mixed feelings about going so far south. On one hand, I am happy to not be in a big city, such as Tokyo or Osaka, but I didn't want to be terribly far from them either since my dialect is mainly from the Kyoto area. I am happy not to be on Hokkaido or on Okinawa but I worry that the ken I am going to seems to take pride in being the sister state of Montana...I don't know how that bodes for me. It is interesting to be near Nagasaki and the area where I am seems to be on the inland sea and also near the craziest of the Japanese volcanoes....there seem to be an abundance of dolphins according to my web search...I like that it is known as 'the origin of the bear'...quite basically it boils down to just what kind of small town is it? I know my 'city' was created in 2004 by combining three smaller towns. I know it has a population of rougly 33,000. This makes it more than 17 times smaller than my current city, but roughly the same size as the town I went to college in. The weather indicates it is very temperate, with the highest average for the hottest month (August) being 80 degrees F and the lowest average for the coldest month (January) being 30 degrees F--I am a fan of that. It is also the part of Japan closest to South Korea. The more I read about it (and trust me, I am searching and reading as I am writing this), the more it sounds like a place of natural beauty and fascinating geological sites, which appeals to me very much. However, there is mention of mercury poisoning fairly often. Well, I am hoping my packet will give me more specifics about the particular place I am teaching in, but it has three things going for it so far: 1. According to their site, "All inhabitants are respected as human beings" so, that is good. 2. It has its own symbol, tree, bird, fish and flower. This might be useful if I get lost in another prefecture. I can make up flash cards and show them to people. 3. I have always wanted to see a monsoon up close.