Volunteers will have the chance to step back in time and volunteer in Okazaki City, a town reminiscent of the Edo period, when Japan was in a time of peace and international openness. Japan is known for it’s traditional culture dating back thousands of years, while also having a vibrant society that continuously modernizes alongside the rest of the world in technology, fashion, cuisine, and daily life.
As a volunteer in Japan, you can choose between working with children in local educational settings, assisting a tea plantation throughout the entire tea-making process, or volunteering with a local artisan’s workshop to make drums, candies, and other handicrafts.
United Planet also offers virtual volunteering and virtual internships (1 month to 6 months) in Japan. Learn more about all of our volunteer abroad programs and virtual volunteering and virtual internship countries in Asia.
Our Japan Country Coordinator, Naoko Jin, shares how United Planet volunteers will experience the real lifestyle of Japanese people in historical and beautiful Okazaki City. She is excited to bring volunteers into the city they love.
I enjoyed so much staying with my host family! The family members looked after me so well. They bought T-shirts and stationery as a gift and treated me as their son, and I helped them back to clean the dishes and have fun with their children. So I really appreciated and enjoyed the time in Japan because of those happy experiences.
This experience taught me how much more I could possibly teach children, and how they could learn more than books. I also experienced making my own Matcha tea in a tea ceremony, dressed up in a yukata and painted my own wind bell, and even went fishing after watching the festival that wished for good catches of fishes! An experience full of learning, laughter, and smiles. Leaving it was a bittersweet moment.
United Planet in Japan was beyond ideal; it was very organized and sculpted my first experience in Japan to be the best it could be! Japan is everything I expected and much, much more. The traditional values that shape the everyday lives of the Japanese people are extremely inspiring. The people’s respect for each other and ultimately everything on earth is so admirable. I love it here and I will absolutely be back.
I learned a lot from their positive attitude I have had build up a strong independent character. It was a rich experience at first it was hard to grasp it all the food type and there respect gestures but I got through it with time and other assistance.
Volunteers in Japan will have the opportunity to work with children in a local kindergarten, junior high school, or after school program. Volunteer tasks include helping teach English and other subjects, organizing games and activities, as well as daily tasks like cooking and cleaning.
Available Dates: Quests start every Saturday, year-round
Minimum Stay: 1 week
Requirements: At least 18 years old, can be flexible
Volunteers learn about local handicrafts and techniques by assisting with a local artisan’s workshop. Examples include drum-making, fabric dying, bonsai, and woodworking.
Available Dates: Quests start every Saturday, year-round
Minimum Stay: 1 week
Requirements: At least 18 years old, can be flexible
Volunteers will have the chance to work with a local tea plantation, learning about the entire tea-making process, from farming and cultivating the tea leaves to processing and packaging.
Available Dates: Quests start every Saturday, year-round
Minimum Stay: 1 week
Requirements: At least 18 years old, can be flexible
Japan Country Coordinator: Naoko Jin. Naoko and her husband manage a cafe in Okazaki City that provides experience-based tour options for foreign tourists. They live in Okazaki City, located in the center of Japan about 2 hours from Tokyo.
As a United Planet volunteer in Japan, you will be based in Okazaki City. It is the birthplace of Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa who established the peaceful Edo period, when Japan did not have wars for more than 250 years.
Volunteers will visit Okazaki Castle where the Shogun was born on December 26th, 1542. It is said that a golden dragon appeared from the castle’s well at the time of his birth, becoming well known as “the lucky dragon well”. The castle’s main prayer hall ceiling holds Japan’s largest wooden carved “Roaring Dragon”. Upon visiting the castle, volunteers can dress up in Samurai armor.
Volunteers will join a tea ceremony demonstration with seasonal confectionery at one of the oldest confectionery shops in Okazaki City. Woman dressed in kimono will demonstrate the tea ceremony and of course, volunteers can try on the authentic kimono. Volunteers can also enjoy calligraphy at the studio of Okazaki’s famous calligraphy artist. You can select your favorite Kanji and write on a Washi paper (Japanese paper).
Rent a bike: Okazaki City has many public parks that you can explore during an afternoon or morning bike ride.
Visit an art museum: Witness the incredible architecture of the Okazaki City Art Museum!
Explore local temples: Okazaki City is home to variety of temples, such as the zen temple of Tenonji and the pleasant Ryukai-in Temple.
Indulge and learn about the local cuisine: Visit the local Hatcho Miso Factory to learn about the fermented soya bean paste used in miso soup, one of Japanese cuisine’s mainstays. Take a free tour and enjoy a miso sweet at the end!
United Planet Volunteer shared with us her second experience volunteering.
“I previously went to Mexico for a conservation program for sea turtles and am now assisting the elderly in Japan. I was very pleased with the level of support both provided in both Quests. I became very immersed in both places, learned a lot of the languages and experienced the local culture and cuisine of both places which is what I wanted.”
Japan Quest is offered year-round, and all projects start on every Saturday of the month. In 2023, there will be no quests from April – September.
For the Japan Quest, volunteers can choose to volunteer from 1 week to 12 weeks.
The age requirement for the Japan Quest is 18. Volunteers under 18 can be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
There is no language requirement to volunteer in Japan. Volunteers receive 1 hour of Japanese lessons with the opportunity to add more.
We ask that volunteers enroll at least 60 days prior to their anticipated departure date. This gives us enough time to schedule volunteer placements, coordinate in-country activities, and provide sufficient pre-departure training.
United Planet Quests are designed to be immersive, authentic, comprehensive and provide you everything you’ll need to succeed. The program elements allow you to engage fully with a new culture, forge strong relationships, and challenge yourself. Most importantly, we partner with the community to ensure your experience will be important, relevant and helpful to the community you serve.
United Planet provides emergency travel and medical insurance for all volunteers. All staff members participate in extensive health and safety training, and are available at all times by 24-hour phone line. Upon enrollment, you will receive a full emergency contact list. In addition, we register all of our volunteers with US Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). We recommend booking a doctor’s appointment or visiting a travel health clinic a few months out to update your vaccinations. Read more about health and safety.
Due to varying airline prices, United Planet does not arrange or cover the cost of flights to and from Japan. Once you arrive in Japan, you will take a bus from the airport to Okazaki City, where the Japan team will welcome you and bring you to your host family. Public transportation to and from your project is cheap and easy with Okazaki City’s public transportation system or on foot. Daily commuting costs are covered by volunteers.
| 1 Week | 10 Days | 2 Weeks | 3 Weeks | 4 Weeks | 5 Weeks | 6 Weeks | 7 Weeks | 8 Weeks | 9 Weeks | 10 Weeks | 11 Weeks | 12 Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2199 | $2345 | $2678 | $3102 | $3681 | $4215 | $4839 | $5343 | $5842 | $6371 | $6905 | $7409 | $7908 |
We want you to succeed. That means having in place the support our volunteers need. We don’t just drop you in country and hope for the best. We provide training before you leave … language exposure … 24/7 in-country support … support for your host family … accommodations, meals and airport transportation … activities and excursions. The whole idea is to make the experience successful and productive for you and the host community, and we have found that these things are crucial. Remember that we are a non-profit, mission-driven organization – we wouldn’t spend money on something that wasn’t important.
*Payment Plan Details: A $300 deposit is due at the time of your enrollment to lock in your spot in our program. After your confirmation in a program, you can choose to pay the Quest Fee all at once or in installments. The total Quest Fee is due 4 weeks before your departure date.
