Volunteering in Japan....

[StormingWynn]

Anyone know about any programs and would like to share them with the rest of us? The only way I'll be able to go to Japan is if I do something productive as I'm a poor college student and don't have money or time to spare. I'm looking to spend less than $2500 on the program and hopefully get 1 month of stay in Japan. I'd like to volunteer in major cities, e.g. Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Kyoto, Osaka, etc. If anyone knows about a program that fits my criteria please let me know.

OR

We can set up of a group of volunteers in this forum and head over in a group of 10-20 people and share the costs of living and volunteer. That'd be awesome. Anyone interested please let me know.

~Wynn

[metalmark666]

Hey.
The best scheme that I found was the WWOOF scheme. I used it when I went travelling in Japan and managed to get an extra 6 weeks worth of travelling for free.
It stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. The idea is, you work on these farms for free and they provide you with accommodation and food. Also, the hosts that you stay with usually treat you really well and treat you to nights out, onsen trips, etc. It is an amazing experience and a fantastic chance to live with a real Japanese family and live like a local.
They have hundreds of different farms around Japan, I worked for a family in Tokyo for two weeks helping renovate a house and doing gardening work, another two weeks in a small town near Kyoto working in rice fields and picking soya beans and a final two weeks on an island near Hiroshima making jam, harvesting oranges and planting blueberry plants. I worked on these farms while travelling around Japan and would not have been able to stay for as long as I did if I was paying for accommodation/food for those six weeks.
I can't express just what a great experience I had working on these farms and I would totally recommend everyone having a go.
Check out the link and have a look yourself.


WWOOF Japan

P.S. Would love to go with you but have no money!!

[StormingWynn]

Originally Posted by metalmark666

Hey.
The best scheme that I found was the WWOOF scheme. I used it when I went travelling in Japan and managed to get an extra 6 weeks worth of travelling for free.
It stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. The idea is, you work on these farms for free and they provide you with accommodation and food. Also, the hosts that you stay with usually treat you really well and treat you to nights out, onsen trips, etc. It is an amazing experience and a fantastic chance to live with a real Japanese family and live like a local.
They have hundreds of different farms around Japan, I worked for a family in Tokyo for two weeks helping renovate a house and doing gardening work, another two weeks in a small town near Kyoto working in rice fields and picking soya beans and a final two weeks on an island near Hiroshima making jam, harvesting oranges and planting blueberry plants. I worked on these farms while travelling around Japan and would not have been able to stay for as long as I did if I was paying for accommodation/food for those six weeks.
I can't express just what a great experience I had working on these farms and I would totally recommend everyone having a go.
Check out the link and have a look yourself.


WWOOF Japan

P.S. Would love to go with you but have no money!!

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I have one concern though. Would it work for me? I'm situated in the US and I was browsing the website and it seems to be Australian.

~Wynn

[crazyviking]

This sounds great i think i will have a go at this. It is even my line of work too.

[metalmark666]

Originally Posted by StormingWynn

Thanks so much for the quick reply. I have one concern though. Would it work for me? I'm situated in the US and I was browsing the website and it seems to be Australian.

~Wynn

I'm from the UK and it worked for me. I'm not too sure about the Australian thing. I know that you can WWOOF in most countries, it’s a massive organisation maybe it had something about the Australian farms you saw. I met a guy from Virginia on two different farms and also a guy from California too, I'm sure you'll have no problems.
Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by crazyviking

This sounds great i think i will have a go at this. It is even my line of work too.

Do it, it is amazing, you'll learn so much!! I found a new level of respect for rice after harvesting it, threshing, sifting it etc. It was really hard work, my hands hurt, my back ached but ultimately it was rewarding. If I had the chance I would do it again in an instant!!

[StormingWynn]

Originally Posted by metalmark666

I'm from the UK and it worked for me. I'm not too sure about the Australian thing. I know that you can WWOOF in most countries, it’s a massive organisation maybe it had something about the Australian farms you saw. I met a guy from Virginia on two different farms and also a guy from California too, I'm sure you'll have no problems.
Hope that helps.





Do it, it is amazing, you'll learn so much!! I found a new level of respect for rice after harvesting it, threshing, sifting it etc. It was really hard work, my hands hurt, my back ached but ultimately it was rewarding. If I had the chance I would do it again in an instant!!

Thank you so much. I have another question. How much did you end up paying out of pocket?

[metalmark666]

Originally Posted by StormingWynn

Thank you so much. I have another question. How much did you end up paying out of pocket?

What, for the whole trip or for the WWOOF membership?

[StormingWynn]

Originally Posted by metalmark666

What, for the whole trip or for the WWOOF membership?

Everything?

[metalmark666]

Wow, erm, not sure where to start...
Before we left, we purchased a copy of Lonely Planet Japan, their Japanese phrase book and also their Hiking in Japan plus a few other Japanese travelling books, maybe £50 for them all. A big travelling Gelert rucksack £50 down from £100. Hard wearing shoes for hiking and farm work £30. Business cards cost £22 for about 200. £20 on small gifts. Ghibli tickets £9 each and 21 day Rail Pass £228 each. £460 for return flights, this was a good deal but a long flight, travelled with Sri Lanka Airlines, 10 hours from UK to Sri Lanka, 18 hours in Sri Lanka, 1 Hour from Sri Lanka to Male, 45 mins in Male and then 9 hours to Tokyo. NIGHTMARE!!! Plus travel insurance which I can't remember the price of. WWOOF membership cost $55, they didn't do it in £'s.
We booked all our hostels/hotels before we left and paid 10% up front, the remaining amount came out of our travelling money.
For the full prices of each place we stayed, look at my diary and go to the end where I have all the information and prices for each one. There are also a lists of websites we used too for purchasing travel needs etc.
When we went out, we had saved around about £4000; about £300 was in cash, the rest was in accounts which we transferred to pay off our credit card which we used to withdraw money with. We were going for so long; we did not want to take all the money in cash and had to pay the charges from withdrawing in a foreign country!! The big problem was, because the economy crashed once we were out there, we went from getting 200 yen to the pound, down to below 150 yen, therefore, losing a quarter of our savings, i.e. £1000. We still made do and ended up eating big instant noodle pots as one of our daily meals to cut down costs.
Erm, think that is about it. Don't know what the exchange rate is from £'s to where you are from.
It was an expensive trip but an adventure that we will never forget!! Worth every penny!!
Can't think of anything else right now; message back if you need to know something different.

[StormingWynn]

Originally Posted by metalmark666

Wow, erm, not sure where to start...
Before we left, we purchased a copy of Lonely Planet Japan, their Japanese phrase book and also their Hiking in Japan plus a few other Japanese travelling books, maybe £50 for them all. A big travelling Gelert rucksack £50 down from £100. Hard wearing shoes for hiking and farm work £30. Business cards cost £22 for about 200. £20 on small gifts. Ghibli tickets £9 each and 21 day Rail Pass £228 each. £460 for return flights, this was a good deal but a long flight, travelled with Sri Lanka Airlines, 10 hours from UK to Sri Lanka, 18 hours in Sri Lanka, 1 Hour from Sri Lanka to Male, 45 mins in Male and then 9 hours to Tokyo. NIGHTMARE!!! Plus travel insurance which I can't remember the price of. WWOOF membership cost $55, they didn't do it in £'s.
We booked all our hostels/hotels before we left and paid 10% up front, the remaining amount came out of our travelling money.
For the full prices of each place we stayed, look at my diary and go to the end where I have all the information and prices for each one. There are also a lists of websites we used too for purchasing travel needs etc.
When we went out, we had saved around about £4000; about £300 was in cash, the rest was in accounts which we transferred to pay off our credit card which we used to withdraw money with. We were going for so long; we did not want to take all the money in cash and had to pay the charges from withdrawing in a foreign country!! The big problem was, because the economy crashed once we were out there, we went from getting 200 yen to the pound, down to below 150 yen, therefore, losing a quarter of our savings, i.e. £1000. We still made do and ended up eating big instant noodle pots as one of our daily meals to cut down costs.
Erm, think that is about it. Don't know what the exchange rate is from £'s to where you are from.
It was an expensive trip but an adventure that we will never forget!! Worth every penny!!
Can't think of anything else right now; message back if you need to know something different.

I was looking an Airline site and I saw the tickets were $750 round trip. I'll have to do the calculations and talk to them before I do anything. My money cap is about $2500 and seeing as you mentioned saving 4000 pounds in your post. EH!!!! IDK.