Help at our renovated hostel, based in a quiet seaside town!

The experience

We run a small hostel & pub located in a town called Hiwasa, in South-Eastern Tokushima Prefecture. We are looking for volunteers to help us with cleaning and bed-making at the hostel. In return, we will provide free accommodation and 2 meals on your working days (breakfast, lunch), and insight into what it's like to live in rural Japan. We love cultural exchange, so let's share some stories with each other!

What you offer

15 hours of help per week

Cleaning: Help clean the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and common areas.

Housekeeping: Help with changing the bed linens and general housekeeping.

What you get

2 days off per week

Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.

Team Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other people.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Discounts on Drinks: Get discounts for drinks and beverages from our bar.

Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.

Bikes at your disposal: You can use our bikes any time you want.

Surfboards: You can use our surfboards as much as you want.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Basic Internet Access: Basic speed internet for you to work remotely

Dedicated Workspace: Specific space for you to work remotely

Requirements

Over 20 years old

Only hosts solo volunteers (doesn’t accept couples or partners)

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

We are looking for volunteers to help with housekeeping at our hostel in exchange for accommodation and food.
Breakfast and lunch will be provided on your work days.
For dinner and on your days off, please organise your own meals.

Bedroom for volunteers:
Bed in mixed or female dorm.
Living room, kitchen, bathroom and shower are shared with other guests.
*guests have priority over use of above, so you are welcome to use our house (we live right next to the hostel!)

We have guests from all over the world come and stay at the hostel, so you can learn about different cultures from other guests. We are also happy to share our experiences living in Japan, teach you about Japanese customs/traditions, as well as some of the Japanese language!

Activities & Shift

Main duties for volunteers will include:
① Cleaning the hostel after guest check out
② Bed making
③ Cleaning the pub
④ Interaction with guests

We request 3 hours of work per day, 5 days per week.
We are flexible with the working days/working hours so please discuss with us if you would like to take certain days off. As long as you work 15 hours per week then we are happy!
General working hours will be from 10:00-13:00.
※Guest check out from the hostel is 11:00AM so the starting time may change depending on guests.

A minimum stay of 1 month is preferred.

There may also be opportunities for DIY work, bartending, gardening, painting/drawing/design etc. so if you have any of these skills then it would be very helpful!!

Rules

We are not so strict on rules!

However, you will either be sharing a space with guests or sharing a space in our house, so please make sure to keep it clean. When the hostel is not so busy, we may request tasks like deep cleaning, helping to clean our shared space in our house.

Interaction with guests is expected. We have both non-Japanese and Japanese guests, so ability in Japanese is preferred but not necessary. As long as you have the ability to make people feel at home!

On your days off, please prepare your own meals (feel free to use our kitchen)

It is a small, conservative fishing town with an ageing population, so please respect the local culture and customs.

There is not much going on (but also a lot going on if you look for it!) so it's the perfect spot for volunteers who can keep themselves occupied, have a personal project they are working on, or studies. Please note, surfing is not possible in this town and requires a 15-minute drive to the nearest surf spot.