Japan wwoofing guide

my experience, guide, & tips

What is WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms)?

A farm-exchange where you stay with or at a host's accommodation in any (listed) country. In exchange for housing and meals, you (and sometimes other WWOOFers) work. $40 initial registration fee to contact the hosts, and transportation to/from the farm is not included. A simple Google search of "WWOOF [country] Host List" will bring up the recruiting farms.

I'm definitely not some travelguide camper hiker experienced lady or whatever, but I definitely have some thoughts and tips i wanted to share to first-time WWOOFers and those wanting to farm in Japan.

My partner and I, both half-Japanese Americans, decided we wanted to stay somewhere pretty local and very rural (well, actually I wanted to go super rural and sorry Kai if you didn't but) and it worked out pretty nicely. We stayed with a family of 3, a married couple and their 1-year old son, on the husband's farm "Yusaku's Farm" for 3 weeks in late June into August. In Japan, June-Augustish is absolutely the hottest time of the year. Poor planning on our part. We were on an organic vegetable farm, so most of the jobs we did were harvesting, weeding, watering the plants, etc. for the first half of our stay. The second half we were helping them run their kakigori (snowcone) stand at markets and a festival.

Anyway, my dear friend is traveling to Japan in the upcoming months and is considering WWOOFing for her first time - so here are some notes I came up with to share with her and her friends.

Here are some of my tips if you're 100% an inexperienced country person who's looking to WWOOF in Japan.