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🏡 Help with DIY and Experience Beach Life in a Traditional House

5.0
(6 reviews)6

The experience

My house is over 150 years old — a beautiful, traditional Japanese home right in front of the beach 🏖️.
I live here with two friends and a cat, and we spend our days fishing, doing DIY projects, and renovating the house.

I’d love for you to join us!

We have a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) and snorkel gear at home, so we can enjoy the ocean together and sometimes have a BBQ 🍖🌅

What you offer

20 hours of help per week

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

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

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

Gardening: Help grow plants and cultivate gardens

What you get

1 day 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.

Tent: You will sleep in a tent at a camping site.

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.

Get free drinks or beverages.: Drink up! Get free and tasty drinks for yourself.

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

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

Requirements

Fluent English or Fluent Japanese

Under 38 years old

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

This is a cozy, old-style Japanese home. You’ll sleep on a futon in a tatami room.
If you’re the only volunteer, the room is mostly private, though people sometimes pass through to get to the living room.

We cook a variety of dishes — Japanese, Chinese, and Western-style meals.
We eat a lot of rice, pasta, bread, meat, and fish, so unfortunately, we cannot accommodate vegetarians.
We also love trying food from other countries — if you’d like to cook something from your home, we’ll happily cover the cost of ingredients 🍲✨.

If you prefer, you can also camp — just bring your own tent ⛺.


đźš— Transportation:
If you have an international driver’s license, you can rent my car or scooter (just pay for gas).
If not, there’s an electric bicycle available for 1500 yen per day, or you can come along when my housemate drives.

Our house is old and close to nature — it’s not perfectly clean, can be cold in winter, and sometimes there are bugs in summer.
But if you’re okay with that, it’s a fun, peaceful, and truly local way to experience Japan 🇯🇵.


🛳️ Getting Here:
The best way to reach Tsushima is by ferry from Hakata Port to Hitakatsu Port.
It leaves at 10:00 p.m. every night and arrives around 3:00 a.m., but you can sleep on the boat until 7:00.
The ticket costs around 6,000 yen, and the ferry is clean with vending machines, hot water, and comfortable cabins.
Once you arrive, we’ll pick you up by car — it’s just 10 minutes to our home.

Activities & Shift

Your help will include:

🧹 Housework (cooking, cleaning, light DIY, etc.)
🪵 Small repairs or painting
🍳 Helping with meals

You’ll help 3–4 hours per day.
We don’t have fixed “days off,” but if you’d like to take a full day off, just let us know — we’re flexible.

The help is also simple — about 4 hours a day — and after that, you’re free to do whatever you like.

Rules

📶 There’s no Wi-Fi yet, but most SIM cards work well. Wi-Fi should be available around 2026.
đźš— If you rent the car or scooter, please pay for gas.
Be respectful, clean, and open-minded — this is a simple, friendly, and natural way of living.