Volunteers will live together, supporting activities in nature and sharing your culture with children. Volunteers will activate the children's independence and creativity by letting them take care of themselves as far as possible and letting them plan for activity, so volunteers will need to respect their ideas!
Accomodation & food:
Volunteers will stay in a shared room of community center. Meals will be cooked by volunteers by turns. Please bring your sleeping bag.
Location & leisure:
Hiraodai in Kitakyushu city, It is located in the northern part of Fukuoka prefecture, famous for beautiful nature like as calcareous cave.
Requirements:
Volunteers should love children. Responsibility, group cooperativeness and high motivation to work with children are necessary! Some Japanese language skill (beginners level or more) and Motivation letter is required.
Volunteers will visit Kids centers to provide the international game for 6-12 years Children. You have chance to show your culture, music, dances and games for Kids. Please bring a lot of ideas about songs, games and dance like you can play with the children.
Accomodation & food:
Local volunteer house. Simple self-catering. Volunteers will cook together. Share room.
Location & leisure:
Fukushima city and Iwaki city. 100km far from Fukushima nuclear power plant and the level of radioactivity is 0.10 mSv/h that is far from dangerous!
Requirements:
High motivation to play with Children and disaster area, and respect to the local culture! Motivation letter is required.
Volunteers will support 2 kids camps during this workcamp(08/17-20 and 08/21-23). Main works are playing with kids in mountain area, cooking outdoor foods, taking care of animals, farming etc.. Kids will create activity by themselves too. Volunteers will support their meeting and activities too.
Accomodation & food:
In dormitory of the nature school. During kids camp, volunteers will stay with kids in same room (But it depend on case!). Cooking with kids too.
Location & leisure:
Small village in the forest area, the population is about 5,000, surrounded by rich nature. The temperature in winter can be minus 5-10 though the inside buildings are warm enough! 75km far from Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Requirements:
Interest to communicate with kids! Motivation letter is required.
Volunteers will have private school for elementary school kids for and organize international exchange classes. Also volunteers will clean local area such as shrine or temple, and do weeding in tea farm if local people need it. Also planning international exchange day and invite local people to interact.
Accomodation & food:
Local community center. Meals will be cooked by volunteers by turns. Sleeping bag is necessary.
Location & leisure:
Hirata town, Izumo city, About 250 km north west of Osaka. Near the Sea of Japan
-Camping with childrenVolunteers help day camp for elementary school children (6 to 12 years old, about 20 children in total). Volunteers are expected to act as their leaders. Volunteers cook, play in the river (sometimes fish catching) and make a secret basement while making sure that children are all safe. Not only day camp but also summer camp volunteers take children for 2-3 days in an isolated village. ZUTTO is an old Japanese-style house it has been there for 150 years. During the camp, you will pick up vegetables on the mountain, play games around the Hosokawa River and cook fresh pizza hand-made stone oven. You will have a chance to go experience a hot spring nearby. -Taking care of handicapped childrenTENKI-MURA has played an active role to support those who have disabilities. There are about 10 handicapped children who need support for their daily life. Most activities are taking place indoors because of the safety reason but they sometime take children to a camp for social inclusion. In 2017, TENKI MURA is planning to organize 2 days camp where non-handicapped children and handicapped children are mixed so that they can interact and help each other. This camp will take place at KODOMONO KUNI (which means a nation for children) which is located in alongside with lake Biwa (the largest freshwater lake in Japan). KODOMONO KUNI facility http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~kodomo92/shisetu.html#kyanp
Accomodation & food:
Accommodation: 1．Japanese house which TENKIMURA owns next to their office 2．camping facility when camping overnight
Facilities:
1.Japanese Tatami room and sleep on your sleeping bag, washer, kitchen, Western toilet, bathroom with a bathtub, free-wifi is available, convenience store and supermarket is 10 minutes away on foot. 2.Kitchen, western toilet, volunteers will use the shower or hot spring in the neighborhood
Meals:
Volunteer take turns to cook their meals. Volunteers go to supermarket or convenience store together with a camp leader for grocery. Sometimes dinner will be provided by the local partner. When camping, volunteers may use a stone stove outside to cook pizza or steam rice.
Location & leisure:
Shiga prefecture is in the central part of Japan and is famous for Lake Biwa, which is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. The lake occupies one sixth of the total area of the prefecture. Kusatsu City is located in the south of the lake and has about 130,000 residents. It takes about 20 minutes by train to get to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan with lots of historical sites, and about 60 minutes by train to get to Nara, where you can find many UNESCO World Heritage site. A volunteer needs at least 10,000 JPY in cash if she/he wants to go sightseeing on free-day.
Requirements:
1.Handicapped children can not communicate verbally so each volunteer is expected to be patient and generous.2.Plan outdoor games that are popular among children in your home country. Make sure you prepare to teach them to Japanese kids. 3.A sleeping mat is a must 4.A motivation letter (more than 5 sentences long) is required. Please include your interest, motivation, experience and strength of yourself in English or Japanese. A sleeping bag, swimwear, work clothes suitable for outdoor activities (Long-sleeved shirts, T-shirts, pants, long-socks and sneakers), sneaker, hat(or cap), toiletries, bath towels and other things you need for your daily life.
- help children, families and elders with cooking (pizza, udon and somen noodles etc), making crafts, and so on. Age of participants will range from 5 to 80 years old. - Attend cultural exchange lesson with local elementary school students (such as Singing English songs and Q&A time) - Participate in Japanese traditional summer festival called "Matsuri", together with local students. - Maintenance of Fureai-no-Mori (mori means forest in Japanese) forest park and some facilities. ※Since there are many outdoor activities, work may differ if it rains.
Accomodation & food:
Accommodation: A traditional Japanese house.
Facilities:
Japanese TATAMI room with futon mattress, washer, kitchen, Western lavatory, shower. No internet access, Convinience store and supermarket is 5 minutes by car.
Meals:
Volunteers take turns and cook by themselves. Volunteers are asked to go to the store and do groceries.
Location & leisure:
Shunan-city is located in south-eastern part of Yamaguchi Pref., between the beautiful Seto Inland Sea and hillside. It takes four and a half hours from Tokyo by Shinkansen or one and a half from Yamaguchi Ube Airport by train. During the day-offs, volunteers may participate in a traditional summer "MIKOSHI (portable shrine)" festival with local children. A volunteer needs at least 10,000 JPY in cash if she/he wants to go sightseeing on free-day.
Requirements:
1.A volunteer who enjoys cooking. All foods should be prepared by volunteers. 2.Volunteers need to be a self-starter. Those who are open-minded and eager to learn Japanese language and culture are welcome3.There is no internet around this area. Bring pocket wifi if you are in need.4.A motivation letter (more than 5 sentences long) is required. Please include your interest, motivation, experience and strength of yourself in English or Japanese. Clothing suitable for outdoor activities, volunteers will take care of children in the river too (swimwear, shorts pants, T-shirts, sneakers are must) Slippers and sandals are prohibited. Seasonings and some recipes from your country (Please be ready to introduce your home country cuisine to local Japanese people and other international volunteer members), pictures and materials or something you can introduce your hometown, culture, language etc.
Volunteers will work in KCH mainly to prepare/ run/ clean up their bon dance festival on 29 Aug. especially constructing the stage (where Volunteers will also show some performance together!). Volunteers will also do some other things like playing with the children in the playground, a dinner with a few elder children, etc.
Accomodation & food:
Possibly, a room in the residential building for staff members of KCH. Meals (besides lunch) will be cooked by volunteers by turns. Sleeing bag is necessary.
Location & leisure:
30 km from Yokohama. Kamakura is an old capital city of Japan in the 13th-15th centuries and has a lot of attraction like old temples, green hills and a beach.
Requirements:
High motivation to work with the children with special background. Similar type of experience is welcome! Motivation letter is needed! Vols. need to be ready that the main work will be construction.
The first half, Volunteers will work at rose garden which is community space for locals in disaster area. For example, cutting grass, cleaning the garden, planting flowers, and so on. And the latter half, Volunteers will visit Kids center to provide the international game for 6-12 years Kids. You have chance to show your culture, music, dances and games for Kids. Please bring a lot of ideas about songs, games and dance like you can play with the children.
Accomodation & food:
Local volunteer house. Simple self-catering. Meals will be cooked by volunteers by turns. Sleeping bag is necessary. Shared room.
Location & leisure:
Located in Tohoku region Miyagi faces the Pacific Ocean in the east, high mountains in the west, and covered by continuous rice paddies.
Requirements:
High motivation to play with the children and disaster area, and respect to the local culture! Motivation letter is required.
« 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! »
