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So the thought of dropping out (of life, not school) crosses my mind from time to time (like daily). I find several locations in Japan appealing for this purpose, one being Nagano, which I mentioned no less than 3 years ago (http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/5335-bbc-article-younger-japanese-people-return-to-countryside/). Although they probably don't want to "drop out" as I have represented it (and truth be told neither do I, a slower lifestyle would be sufficient), it seems a few other people may be thinking similarly... There exists an organization called the Furusato Kaiki Shien (Hometown Return Support) Center, their website is http://www.furusatokaiki.net/ , and suspiciously their office is in Yurakucho, Tokyo. Anyway, they publish various news bits, and amongst them, a ranking of places popular for rural living ( http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150209-00000009-wordleaf-soci.view-000 ). 2014's entries are: Yamanashi Nagano Okayama Fukushima Niigata Kumamoto Shizuoka Shimane Toyama Kagawa Nagano and Okayama appear to be perennial front runners, with Yamanashi kind of coming out of nowhere in the shake up between 2012 and 2013. The article says it was the influence of the 2011 earthquake, maybe there was just a bit of a delay. The article also cites Nagano's "antenna shop" in Ginza. An antenna shop is a store that sells local goods in a distant location (which I suspect is always Tokyo :(). Kumamoto and Shimane also seem like fine choices. Some more stats (remember, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics): http://resemom.jp/article/img/2015/02/12/22870/94883.html . Blue is people visiting the center or their seminars, red is phone calls. Here's the age breakdown: http://resemom.jp/article/img/2015/02/12/22870/94868.html . Nagano... I can almost taste the miso.