David Backof, a native of Miami, was a college student in New Orleans when his friend suggested they apply together for teaching jobs in Japan. Not knowing what he wanted to do after graduation, he agreed.
Coming to Japan was "kind of an accident," Backof recalled, as it turned out he got the job while his friend didn't.
He was told he would be sent to teach at a high school in Sendai, which Floridians might normally find a little on the cold side. But up until about two weeks before his departure, he thought he was destined for warmer climes because he mistakenly thought he was going to Miyazaki, instead of Miyagi, Prefecture.