Volunteer Programs in Tokyo, Japan

Had a great trip to Italy. I met a ton of people from all over the world and we worked together educating about issues around refugees. We worked during the day and had fun at night and on the weekends. I am still in touch with many of the people I volunteered with. Thanks

My experience as a Spanish and English teacher on Peace Boat began two years ago, last August 2023. I think I'm not wrong if I say that it was one of the most enriching experiences of my life. Not only because of the opportunity to do one of the things I love the most: teaching languages while I “live” (in this case travel constantly) abroad, but also because of the people I met ON the ship: The large community that traveled together for more than three months, sharing the same places, food, and constant exchanges of thoughts and ideas made it a truly rewarding experience and fostered immeasurable personal growth. Regarding the language classes—Spanish and English—the participants always showed great willingness and interest in each class or workshop we often held on the ship. Both private and group classes were always well received and helped passengers apply the content they learned on their next stop in the country we would soon visit. Similarly, as is often the case when teaching a language, it's not all about the language, but also the culture. That's why the cultural exchange that took place in those nomadic classrooms that sailed the sea toward our next destination was magical and added that touch of color and curiosity that learning a new language always awakens within you. Of course, it's difficult to convey in a few lines what it's like to teach both languages in such unique circumstances, but it's definitely an experience I recommend to any lover of education, languages, and travel. In addition to all this, I'd like to highlight the great fortune of being on a team with wonderful colleagues, with whom I developed a very good relationship and were always helpful. And of course, two magnificent coordinators: Christopher Lindstrom and Risa Kuwabara, who guided and supported us months before our circumnavigation. Their support and prior experience were essential to making our experience so positive and unforgettable. Sincerely, Genoveva Tomás.

The Peace Boat experience is highly recommended. You’ll have the opportunity to contribute to international dialogue, promote peace, and meet people from all over the world. The GET program is a wonderful experience that will leave a lasting memory on you. Don’t wait any longer—send in your application! The selection process is challenging, and the team you’ll be working with is highly specialized. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re motivated and resourceful, you have a good chance of being a suitable candidate.

As a volunteer language teacher on Peace Boat, you will be part of a team that is not only dedicated to their students but to all passengers and volunteers on board. You will experience and learn about many different cultures on and off the boat while you make your way around the globe. There are passengers from around Asia, volunteer teachers, translators and crew from everywhere and guest speakers from the countries you will visit. It is an amazing way to learn about the world.

I volunteered twice as an Advanced English language teacher after securing a TESOL certificate and gaining 18 months of teaching experience overseas. I joined 9 other teachers of both English and Spanish and embarked from Japan to Japan around the entire world! While the majority of the experience happens on board the ship with teaching and learning from educators and professionals around the world, I got to deep dive into Japanese culture and then every 5 days or so, I would wake up to a new port of call in Africa, South America, Europe or North America with the occasional exotic isle like Tahiti or Easter Island. There really was never a dull moment on board with both my volunteer work duties and twelve events every hour on the hour and lots of live music and fun mixer type events.

I love helping the old people , and I love those who do this because it gives them a spirit of life and enhances their psychology for the better. I also love animals and playing with them gently and I hope that I will enjoy this volunteering because it will have a great impact on my psychological state

My experience with VFP way back in 2009 was remarkable. Living in Germany and building a labyrinth at a World Heritage Site as the only native English speaker in my group was a truly immersive experience. I didn't feel like I was coming into a place from the outside so much as I felt part of a community. Our group really bonded and while we had a primary task, many of the day to day decisions were made by the group, one of my first experiences with really being responsible for myself.

This was absolutely the best internship I could have dreamt of! Robert made this journey unforgettable and offered me the best internship in a local IT company. I had a very intense two months that exposed me to so much learning and coding with Phyton, C++ and Java. THANK YOU for the great work you did!!!

Just finished my 6-Month internship in Tokyo and it was simply amazing. Great people, great food and the lifestyle is a rollercoaster of fun, excitement and adrenaline all the time. They say Tokyo never sleeps and I can approve that 100%! Meiji did a great job in placing me at a great IT startup that helped me developing their European business branch from zero. At the beginning I was like, "Hold on, you want what?" and then I ended up bringing in the first clients after 4 months which sounds like a long time but considering the whole marketing campaign I made together with their designer team it was actually quick. The highlight of my internship was the trading convention the boss took me together to Okinawa, which I will never forget. Now looking back after this great time it is time to get back to my business degree as these people decided to hire me after my studies are done! I can't thank everybody more than enough and I recommend anybody to consider the Meiji experience as it changed my life! Literally!!! I should mention with a grain of salt that we had in the same host company at least 4 other Meiji interns at my time and two of them didn't work well with the working culture and stress in Japan... so before you choose to come to Japan I do recommend to know what you want as Tokyo can become sometimes quite extreme. For me I loved every second and would do it anytime again! Arigatou to Yanagida-shacho for your kind and strict guidance throughout my journey. Can't wait to be back!

I am studying Japanese at uni and learning the Japanese sign language. I have always wanted to live in Japan because I love their culture and how respectful people are. As I am interested in the Japanese sign language as well, I asked Meiji Internships if it would be possible to find my internship in this field, and they found it! I am really thankful for this opportunity. It was an NGO helping children with different types of deafness. I helped organise a fundraising event, went to hospitals to entertain children and many other activities. The children were really cute and they seemed so happy to meet me! It was the best social experience I had in my life, thank you so much for this opportunity.

Tokyo was amazing! My brother did an internship in China, but I wanted to have a different experience, and I had a better feeling with Japan. Even though I don't speak Japanese (or only some basic words), it was not a problem in Tokyo and the company I interned with. My mother was a bit worried because it was my first time going abroad alone, but I really wanted to intern in Asia because the culture is so different and fascinating. It was a good idea to trust Meiji Internship because they helped me with the accommodation, the sim card and so on. They also sent me a newsletter with a list of events, it was really nice. I gained experience and also independence thanks to this internship... amazing!

What a challenge for me to live in such a huge city like Tokyo, but what a memorable experience! I wanted to visit Tokyo anyway, so why not gaining work experience while visiting? I had a great time there, doing my internship in Design. At some point, they needed my help with SNS tasks and a bit of copywriting. I applied in priority for Design, but I said that I was also interested in Marketing, so I was happy to be polyvalent sometimes. As it might help some people: I am a vegetarian, and I thought it would be complicated to eat vege food in Japan, but actually it was not! I cooked my bento for lunch at the sharehouse sometimes, and there are plenty of vege restaurants in Tokyo, even vegan if needed! Or I would eat kitsune udon, yasai tempura... lots of options! Anyway, don't worry if you are a vegetarian, you can do your internship in Tokyo!! Thank you Meiji Internships for this amazing experience! I will remember it my whole life!

Please let me go back in time and do this program again! I have made so many friends in the two months I've been in Sapporo. Hokkaido is such a great place to explore all the natural spots during the weekends and also learn about the mystical culture of the Nordic native people called "Ainu". I met so many super awesome people on my journey and went with them also to the cozy city port of Hakodate on the Southern tip. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I already miss all the people and my fellow colleagues from my company I was working at. Advise: Make sure to check out the sea food market in Sapporo. Mouth watering and fresh sea food wherever you look.

I've been always active with many local associations . And i would love to experience something new abroad . France can be 1 grear chance for me to deal with the local community and to help in any kind of project

VFP made the travel and volunteer process very simple and it was very easy to communicate with them when additional information was needed. They worked with an agency in Nepal called VIN (Volunteers in Nepal) which was also excellent. Our host family made the experience really incredible. They were kind and very concerned for our safety and well-being. My partner and I remain in contact with our hosts and VIN through Facebook and have made life-long friends. Through VIN we were also able to feel involved and contributed to the reparations after the massive earthquake last year. I would recommend Volunteers for Peace to anyone.

This trip was amazing and Volunteers for Peace was an excellent organization to go through for my first international volunteer experience. Living and working with such amazing people, from our hosts to other volunteers, the project was enlightening and exciting and allowed all of us outsiders a chance to be welcomed into a vibrant, warm culture.

My time spent in Haiti has forever changed my perception of what's important in life. Volunteers for Peace, VFP, allowed me to experience life in a society where things we take for granted are not readily available and are scrounged for daily. Mere existence in Duchity, Haiti involves foraging for food, hunting for wood or charcoal to cook with, collecting water at a community water source, and cleaning clothes in an overused creek. I was overwhelmed with the opportunity to witness and live (if only for a short time) the joy and rhythm of Haitian life. Immediately upon my arrival, I found myself immersed in Haitian culture; for this I am forever grateful. I was able to witness the dangers of idleness and feel the uncertainty of tomorrow that brews in the youth of Duchity. The residents of Haiti lack opportunities to better their situation, but VFP has joined forces with a local energetic resident to help establish an adult vocational school to empower the Duchity residents with trade-skills that can be used to earn income and better lives. Volunteers for Peace has a strong commitment to empowering local residents. They understand that meaningful help for a person, group, community, or nation must come from within that person, group, or nation. They embrace this concept fully. Their affiliation in Duchity, Haiti is helping to assure residents learn to help themselves. I was honored to have been a part of their exceptional program.

My VFP trip to Alaska took place several years ago, but it's still worth reviewing here, because I've done additional VFP trips since. VFP has always impressed me with its customer service, affordability, and attitude that "Peace begins one friendship at a time." Our work in Sitka, Alaska, was varied, thanks to our excellent local hosts. We did everything from working with injured eagles at a raptor center to painting tiny furniture at a preschool. During our free time, our hosts took us fishing, camping, hiking, and kayaking in some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Our lodging was simple but comfortable (mattresses on the floor at a large church) and groceries were plentiful. While I doubt that those particular hosts are still organizing projects like this one, I highly recommend working with VFP if you want a meaningful and affordable volunteer travel experience!

One of the unique features of traveling with VFP is that they partner with a few organizations that will accept entire families to volunteer -- and most importantly, these programs are very affordable compared to others I've researched. A few summers ago, my husband, 10 year-old daughter, and I went to Sardinia to volunteer with Legambiente, a large environmental agency in Italy. We lived and worked with three other families from three different countries. Our lodging was in a former boarding school in a tiny village. There was a huge, modern kitchen, shower facilities, and a washing machine. The hosts brought plenty of groceries to us on a regular basis and we shared the cooking and cleaning duties. Our actual work was simple -- cleaning up trash from Sardinia's beaches, planting some trees, etc. (Children didn't have to do the physical labor; parents would take turns keeping an eye on them.) Usually this would take only a couple of hours each day, then we were free to go into town, to the beach, etc. Our hosts treated us very well, although for them it was their vacation time (!) so they often just socialized with each other, not with us. But the other families and mine became good friends; we still stay in touch.

In 2013, I volunteered in Reykjavik with SEEDS, Iceland's VFP counterpart. Volunteering is apparently not a common pursuit among Icelanders, so SEEDS has taken advantage of 1) Iceland's booming tourist industry and 2) tourists who do like to volunteer. The SEEDS program I did involved helping a soccer club called Throttur with their annual international tournament for teen players. The Throttur hosts provided a comfortable living space, groceries, and free passes to the city's top swimming pool facility, right across from our lodging. The work was physically challenging, but not difficult -- cleaning up the fields each day, setting up beds for the players and coaches, etc. Working with VFP for travelling is awesome. They offer a ton of choices, the fees are exceptionally low compared to others volunteer-abroad programs, and the staff is helpful, knowledgeable, and quick to respond to questions and concerns.