I absolutely love it. I live in Shizuoka prefecture that has some of the best weather in the country (a bit hot this past week though...). It's beautiful. The food is amazing. It's quiet. In the winter I can walk out to the beach at night and see the milky way. The people are super friendly. There is very little not to like (unless you are a city person, in which case you will probably go stark raving mad with boredom ;-) ).

I highly recommend visiting rural Japan. It's a completely different place than Tokyo/Osaka/etc. It's an easy place to travel to. People are friendly. It's not so expensive. Transportation is good. It's insanely safe.

For living, though, you need to spend some time here and decide if you like Japanese culture. Some people really, really don't. It's quite different living here than visiting here. It suits me down to a T, but I know a lot of people who just can't deal with it.

Thank you for the thoughtful comment! I'm going to go back and read some of your longer posts on your experiences. Perhaps it's time to start learning Japanese...