Host organization is Abukuma Nature School Network (ANSN). Their theme is learning from soil and nature, and live together! And to make it into practice, ANSN organizes many programs ranging from kids to adults such as a nature school, classrooms for farmers, foresters and organic farming groups, visiting local schools, 2 weeks nature camps for kids, etc. They are hoping to make these programs more active and make better relationship between the local community and their organization.
Work:
You will plan, prepare and organize the above events and programs with other staff members of ANSN. You may do come agricultural and forest work in the land of ANSN that are also very important, as well as organize some activities with the local elementary school and community.
Accommodation:
Single room of the nature school. Cooked by vols.
NB:
Pocket money is 20,000 yen per month.
Location:
Small village in the forest area, the population is about 5,000, surrounded by rich nature. The temperature in the winter can be minus 5 to 10 though the inside buildings are warm enough!
Travel terminal:
Tokyo (2 and a half hours from Tokyo by bus).
Leisure:
Participation in the local events, many opportunities to learn the local wisdom, etc.
Special Requirements:
Speaking good Japanese, strong motivation to work with the host and live in the remote area with a lot of nature, respect to the local custom and life, flexibility, friendliness, positive mind and those who likes children. Experience of similar types of work is welcome!
Host organization is Abukuma Nature School Network (ANSN). Their theme is learning from soil and nature, and live together! And to make it into practice, ANSN organizes many programs ranging from kids to adults such as a nature school, classrooms for farmers, foresters and organic farming groups, visiting local schools, 2 weeks nature camps for kids, etc. They are hoping to make these programs more active and make better relationship between the local community and their organization.
Work:
You will plan, prepare and organize the above events and programs with other staff members of ANSN. You may do come agricultural and forest work in the land of ANSN that are also very important, as well as organize some activities with the local elementary school and community.
Accommodation:
Single room of the nature school. Cooked by vols.
NB:
Pocket money is 20,000 yen per month.
Location:
Small village in the forest area, the population is about 5,000, surrounded by rich nature. The temperature in the winter can be minus 5 to 10 though the inside buildings are warm enough!
Travel terminal:
Tokyo (2 and a half hours from Tokyo by bus).
Leisure:
Participation in the local events, many opportunities to learn the local wisdom, etc.
Special Requirements:
Speaking good Japanese, strong motivation to work with the host and live in the remote area with a lot of nature, respect to the local custom and life, flexibility, friendliness, positive mind and those who likes children. Experience of similar types of work is welcome!
Host organization is Maki Farm of Kyodo Gakusha (KG). KG is a NPO running 5 organic farming communities in Japan where people with various backgrounds such as mentally disadvantaged, those who want to learn farming, etc. in order to change our society from competitive to cooperative. Maki Farm has 5-10 members and is located in a very isolated area (nOhdaccessible for cars and we have to walk 4 km in the mountains), so once it became an abandon village in 1970s.
Work:
We will help their organic farming (weeding in rice and vegetable fields, planting vegetables, taking care of goats and chicken, etc.) and also carry the things from the town, renovate the trails, help their house work, etc. Be ready to work for quite a long time (05:30-18:00 with some brakes) and hard.
Accommodation:
Building for volunteers in the farm, cooking as a group by turn (Vegetarian is possible!)
Location:
Very isolated, but beautiful village near “Japanese Northern Alps”. About 900 meters asl. There are something remained here that most of Japanese areas have lost in modernization.
Travel terminal:
From Tokyo, 4 hours by express train or 8-10 hours by bus and train.
Special Requirements:
Speaking good Japanese (common language will be Japanese), and strong motivation to work and enjoy simple life in the isolated area and respect to the local culture and way of the local organization! Skills in agriculture or construction can be useful!
Host organization is Kikuya Community Group (KCG), formed by the local young people to think of the future of their small village. Ikata is famous for its main industry of oranges farming, but has been facing depopulation, lack of workers and ageing society since most of young people leave the town. So, the number of abandoned orange farms is increasing and the town is losing its tradition, life, custom and scenery. KCG strongly hopes to host vols. to work together to animate the town and revive the farms.
Work:
You will help orange farming (This is the main work!! Harvesting, taking care of trees, etc, depend on season!), support local youth club (Taking care of elderly people etc), and create new activities to animate the town.
Accommodation:
Share room at the volunteers’ house. Food cooked by volunteers.
NB:
Pocket money is 20,000 yen per month.
Location:
In the edge of Sata Peninsula, surrounded by the sea, so fishing is also famous. There are only 30 houses in this community. The climate is relatively warm though it can be cold in winter.
Travel terminal:
Matsuyama. From Matsuyama, about 2 hours by train and bus.
Leisure:
Participation in the local events, exchange with the local groups, etc.
Special Requirements:
Speaking good Japanese, strong motivation to work with the host, respect to the local custom and life, open mind and flexibility. Be ready that work is for quite a long time and hard.
Organized together with Kurikoma Plateau Nature School (KPNS) which runs provides various nature-oriented courses, eco tours, kids programs and support of the students with difficult backgrounds and has hosted the workcamps and long term volunteers from NICE (including rehabilitation from the earthquake that hit this area in 2008).
The giant earthquake hit the eastern part of Japan on 11 March by which (including tsunami and fire caused by the earthquake) over 27,000 people have either died or been missing. Kurikoma is located very far from the sea and so, had almost no damage), but all the staff members of KPNS are so busy to work to support the affected areas, so they need a few vols. who can help to maintain the School itself. .
Work:
We will mainly help farming (e.g. cultivation of rice fields) as well as take care of the animals such as horses, goats, chicken and also maintain the forests nearby within the eco-village plan of KPNS. So, this is a quite indirect way to support the affected areas (be aware of it and don't expect to help people directly!), but still important!
Accommodation:
Log cabin of KPNS. Meals will be either cooked by the vols. or provided by KPNS. Sleeping bag is not necessary.
Location:
Center of Tohoku area, specified as the quasi-national park, so you can enjoy the beech woods and the alpine plants in all seasons. About 150 km from the power station, so no serious danger for radioactivity. It is colder than Tokyo, average temperature may be 10C for April, 15C for May and 20C for June (morning can be 5-10C less).
Terminal:
Tokyo. (5-6 hours from Tokyo by the highway bus).
Leisure Activities:
This is totally different from usual workcamps, so please don't expect any cultural. leisure programs by the organizers.
Special Remarks - very important!: * Qualification: Vols. need to be fulfilled in all of the following points... + Those who can manage the activities and life by themselves + Those who can consider others feeling and accept their difficulties + Those who can adapt themselves well in simple and hard life conditions + Those who have flexibility, patience and can respect local ways + No smoking. No vegetarian (you need to enjoy eating any food!)
* The very aim of the project is to improve the local situation that should be the first motivation than inter-cultural learning, group solidarity, etc. Vols. need to submit the motivation letters with the application forms.
* The project starts on Mondays and finish on Sundays and the minimum period is 1 week, so the applicants need to fill in the period on the application forms according to this rule. Vols. need to arrive at Tokyo by the Sunday night and can come back there in the Sunday evening. We welcome longer term volunteers!
* There are possibilities to stop/ change the activities/places depending on the situations and even if it is happened, we will try to accommodate the vols. in different projects depending on their needs/ wish.
* Volunteers need to pay transportation to/ from the project. There is no fee, we will provide the meals and accommodation by free by using the donation (while Japanese vols. pay some fee for the fund) though you are of course welcomed to raise and bring any amount of donation!
Host organization is Abukuma Nature School Network (ANSN). Their theme is learning from soil and nature, and live together! And to make it into practice, ANSN organizes many programs ranging from kids to adults such as a nature school, classrooms for farmers, foresters and organic farming groups, visiting local schools, 2 weeks nature camps for kids, etc. They are hoping to make these programs more active and make better relationship between the local community and their organization.
Work:
You will plan, prepare and organize the above events and programs with other staff members of ANSN. You may do come agricultural and forest work in the land of ANSN that are also very important, as well as organize some activities with the local elementary school and community.
Accommodation:
Single room of the nature school. Cooked by vols.
NB:
Pocket money is 20,000 yen per month.
Location:
Small village in the forest area, the population is about 5,000, surrounded by rich nature. The temperature in the winter can be minus 5 to 10 though the inside buildings are warm enough!
Travel terminal:
Tokyo (2 and a half hours from Tokyo by bus).
Leisure:
Participation in the local events, many opportunities to learn the local wisdom, etc.
Special Requirements:
Speaking good Japanese, strong motivation to work with the host and live in the remote area with a lot of nature, respect to the local custom and life, flexibility, friendliness, positive mind and those who likes children. Experience of similar types of work is welcome!
Host organization is Maki Farm of Kyodo Gakusha (KG). KG is a NPO running 5 organic farming communities in Japan where people with various backgrounds such as mentally disadvantaged, those who want to learn farming, etc. in order to change our society from competitive to cooperative. Maki Farm has 5-10 members and is located in a very isolated area (nOhdaccessible for cars and we have to walk 4 km in the mountains), so once it became an abandon village in 1970s.
Work:
We will help their organic farming (weeding in rice and vegetable fields, planting vegetables, taking care of goats and chicken, etc.) and also carry the things from the town, renovate the trails, help their house work, etc. Be ready to work for quite a long time (05:30-18:00 with some brakes) and hard.
Accommodation:
Building for volunteers in the farm, cooking as a group by turn (Vegetarian is possible!)
Location:
Very isolated, but beautiful village near “Japanese Northern Alps”. About 900 meters asl. There are something remained here that most of Japanese areas have lost in modernization.
Travel terminal:
From Tokyo, 4 hours by express train or 8-10 hours by bus and train.
Special Requirements:
Speaking good Japanese (common language will be Japanese), and strong motivation to work and enjoy simple life in the isolated area and respect to the local culture and way of the local organization! Skills in agriculture or construction can be useful!
Host organization is Kikuya Community Group (KCG), formed by the local young people to think of the future of their small village. Ikata is famous for its main industry of oranges farming, but has been facing depopulation, lack of workers and ageing society since most of young people leave the town. So, the number of abandoned orange farms is increasing and the town is losing its tradition, life, custom and scenery. KCG strongly hopes to host vols. to work together to animate the town and revive the farms.
Work:
You will help orange farming (This is the main work!! Harvesting, taking care of trees, etc, depend on season!), support local youth club (Taking care of elderly people etc), and create new activities to animate the town.
Accommodation:
Share room at the volunteers’ house. Food cooked by volunteers.
NB:
Pocket money is 20,000 yen per month.
Location:
In the edge of Sata Peninsula, surrounded by the sea, so fishing is also famous. There are only 30 houses in this community. The climate is relatively warm though it can be cold in winter.
Travel terminal:
Matsuyama. From Matsuyama, about 2 hours by train and bus.
Leisure:
Participation in the local events, exchange with the local groups, etc.
Special Requirements:
Speaking good Japanese, strong motivation to work with the host, respect to the local custom and life, open mind and flexibility. Be ready that work is for quite a long time and hard.
« I would recommend participating in a workcamp, especially with VAP, who ensured that I found a project to suit me and provided essential training for me in preparation for my trip. Being part of a workcamp really is a life-changing experience, oh, and it looks great on your CV! »
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