Japan offers volunteer opportunities to young travellers
Due to heavy unemployment in most countries of western Europe, it currently is difficult for young North Americans to obtain even a volunteer position there. Not so in Japan. The Japanese pose no real obstacle to foreign youngsters who volunteer for various forms of casual work. In this manner, the young people gain familiarity with a fascinating foreign land without incurring large expenditures. Among the organizations that help them find such volunteer activities is one called Workaway, but there are several more. Utilizing Workaway’s assistance, a young, 19-year-old daughter of a friend of ours devoted part of her “gap year” before starting college to enjoying a fascinating travel experience in Japan. She planned a two-month stay, which began as a volunteer at a Japanese ski resort, where she met numerous other young volunteers from around the world. Her work was limited to five hours a day, six days a week, and although some of it was related to not-so-exciting snow removal, she was able to ski for free following her five-hour stint. But some of her other activities were far more interesting. One of them involved assisting reservation personnel using a computer system. She received room and full board at the resort on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, at which she joyfully skied, without charge, almost every day. After staying at the ski resort, she moved to a Japanese farm, where, in addition to helping the family with their daily chores, she sold Japanese candies that they had produced. She worked at an outdoor counter in a highway marketing area. And in addition to having interesting interactions with Japanese motorists stopping at the open-air market, she picked up a great deal of the Japanese language. She also was greatly amused at the startled expressions on her customers’ faces when they saw that the salesperson was an obvious Caucasian visitor. After three weeks at the farm, she moved to a large ryokan (guesthouse) on another Japanese island, where she assisted the proprietors. Throughout the Japanese adventure, she was treated with the utmost courtesy by the Japanese people with whom she worked, and she had a unique and unforgettable experience. If you know of a young person seeking a similar tr`avel adventure, you might want to go to a computer search engine, insert the words “volunteer work in Japan,” and then contact one of the several organizations displayed there.