I'm an American who bought a house in Hokkaido and have been living there for 18 months. Hokkaido is wonderful and Chitose is close to Sapporro (more like a suburb), has an international airport (direct flights to Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, etc) and the bullet train will be completed by 2030 from Tokyo to Sapporro. The nature and food are unrivaled in Hokkaido and in terms of the people and culture - until about the 1880s it was primarily an Ainu place but then large immigration from all parts of Japan which has created a unique culture in Hokkiado with aspects of culture from all of Japan's regions. What has been missing is industry. Resource extraction has been one industry in decline (fishing, timber, coal). Banking and finance have mostly been centred in Tokyo. A high tech chip industry in Hokkaido, in particular if Taiwan is merged with PRC might be exactly the thing for Hokkaido to boom - in particular since it is less prone to natural disasters and climate change may be warming things up.
How much did you pay for the house? How much rennovation did it need? Are you working remotely there? How did you acquire a house in an area that's less accommodating to English than Tokyo? Did you need/use a real estate agent?
