Maki

Name: Maki
Start: 2024-01-01
End: 2025-12-13
Location: Nagano, Japan

Code: 20251107-75af-4815-a261-a8979b78123a Copied

Japan Farming Environment Manual work Social work Teenagers Farming Environment +3 Fixed dates

About the project

Maki

📝 Detailed information

🏢 About the local organisation

This project is actively working for SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDGs 10 (Reduced Inequalities), organized together with Kyodo Gakusha (since 2000 here), a cooperative community where people with various backgrounds such as mentally disadvantaged, people who are tired of city life, who want to learn farming, who want to live in the nature, etc. They have 5 communities in Japan incl. Maki and grow animals and vegetables in an ecological, organic way. Maki is located in a very isolated area (not accessible for cars and we have to walk 4 km in the mountains!), so it once became an abandon village in 1970s and then, was revived by Kyodo Gakusha. Over 10 people were living till several years ago, but less and less in these years (almost nobody in the winter), so vols. are needed even more! *Outcome of this project: In 2025, we had 20 STVs for 4 short term workcamps and 3 LMTVs from 9 countries who greatly contributed to their protecting the houses, farming and caring animals that was difficult to finish by the time they needed without volunteers! See the long-term goal of this project as Local SDGs made by the previous project leader at https://www.slideshare.net/nice-workcamp/2019-ep3-188767935 (only in Japanese, sorry, but you can still enjoy the pictures!)

💼 What the programme involves

Volunteers mainly work for organic agriculture (cultivation, seeding, weeding, harvesting, taking care of goats, cows and chicken, making their feeds) and also carrying the things from the town to Maki, renovating the houses and trails on the way, constructing a hut, reconstructing the neighboring traditional house owned by the ex. inhabitant and destroyed by snow, help the house works especially cooking, etc. It's important and necessary to actively join the daily meeting and actively share the collective life. Be ready to work for quite a long time (06:00-18:00 with some brakes) and hard. It'd be surely good exercise to make your body more healthy!

🏠 Accommodation on site

Volunteers will live in the main house that is a very beautiful cultural heritage and equips the basic facilities such as water, electricity, kitchen, toilets and a bath room! Single room can be provided. They will have meals, meetings and social life with Kyodo Gakusha members. Meals will be cooked by volunteers together with the members by turns. Sleeping bag is not necessary. There is no wifi.

🍲 Food

Meals will be cooked
by volunteers together with the members by turns. Sleeping

📍 About the location

Maki is located in the beautiful place near “Japanese Northern Alps“, at about 900 meters asl. and there is something remained here that most of Japanese areas have lost in modernization. Other activities - Exchange program, Excursion on a free day (possibly to Hakuba, a famous tourism spot), etc.

⚠️ Requirements

Motivation letter is needed! Volunteers need to have some Japanese speaking skill (manage to have basic daily conversation) and high motivation and patience to keep hard, long and important work in the very isolated, natural place, to respect the way of the local host and to learn and speak Japanese language is needed. No special skills nor experiences are needed.

ℹ️ Additional information

9,000 JPY (50 EUR by the rate on 2025 Nov. 3rd) of "NICE Volunteers" fee need to be paid in advance
either by Card or PayPal. This is used for the project preparation/ coordination such as the
transportation of the staff/ camp leaders, visa invitation cost, publications, etc. while the meals and
the accommodation are provided by the local host by free (so, your fee is not used for those things!).
Child is exempted, but need to pay 6,000 JPY per child for the meals instead to be paid on the arrivals.

Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.