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Help us at our slow-life retreat in rural Japan, 2hr from Tokyo.

4.5
(5 reviews)5

The experience

We are a quirky, unconventional international couple (+2 international? cats) that - after many varied life experiences - decided to buy a large house and move to rural Japan. We own a few businesses, are focused on personal development, and have everything we want out here except for good company: pleasant, communicative, respectful, curious, and open-minded people also interested in personal growth… who can help with the dishes!

What you offer

4 hours of help per day

Building & Repairing: Help with a wide range of repairs or building.

Cooking: Choose the menu, pick ingredients and cook delicious dishes.

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

Kitchen Hand: Help prepare, finish and serve meals.

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.

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

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.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.

Pick Up: We will pick you up when you arrive, and take you to our property.

Holistic Therapies: You can take part in any of our therapeutic activities for free.

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

Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely

Requirements

Intermediate English or Fluent Japanese

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

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

We don't really have a "program", so this is more about us.

Our focus in life is personal development. We’ve been through a lot and are complex people with complex backgrounds.

Akiko was an internationally performing classical musician. How did she end up in the woods? Alex was a high school dropout. How did he end up running several businesses and becoming a relationship coach?

Our journeys have been filled with growth, challenges, unexpected turns, and the pursuit of self-understanding - leaving us with little tolerance for superficial interactions. We love delving into discussions on a wide range of topics, even those considered personal or taboo by some.

Aside from talking, we work on living a deliberate, healthy lifestyle. We exercise regularly, eat healthy home-cooked meals, keep a regular schedule, practice mindfulness, and minimize unnecessary stress.


Activities & Shift

As mentioned above, we don't need *that* much help.

We will ask you to help with cooking (if you want to eat), cleaning around the house.. and dishes. We both hate doing dishes!

The house we bought is a bit old and needs some repairs. I (Alex) will be working on it on and off, and if you want to help out, I'd be happy to teach you some DIY skills if you are not too clumsy. An extra pair of hands always helps, and can be fun - but is totally optional.

We also run our businesses from home, so if you want to learn about business or help with social media or whatever - then please help out.

Please be aware that since we are a rural area, and that we won't be working you to the bone, you will have a lot of downtime. This is great if you want to reflect, walk in nature, work on projects, etc. This is *not* great if you need constant stimulation :)

Rules

Absolutely no smoking, whether inside or outside.

No guests.

Quiet hours. We really like peace and quiet, especially in our house, so we ask our guests to keep things very quiet between the hours of 8:00pm and 8:00am. That means walking quietly, closing doors gently, and a few other things.

There will likely be unexpected situations that come up where we ask you to do (or, more likely, not do) something. If that makes sense to you, it’s all good.

Oh yeah… Akiko’s pretty picky about how the dishes are done :)

We do have a screening process to make sure it would be a good fit for both parties, so please expect to have a video call with us before confirming anything.

IMPORTANT: Because we often host middle and h.s. age girls at our homestay program, we currently only accept female volunteers. We do understand that it's unfair, and I do apologize.