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100 %
Last replied
14 Jun 2025
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Description
***UPDATED June 9th 2025***
We are still looking for a couple or one more person for June 20th to July 20th - 1 month of work.
We will be hoping to plant 50 fruit trees this year with the help of syntropic agriculture, agroforestry, and permaculture... work on our mandala garden and continuing to improve and personalize our home environment.
Please note: All tasks are related to our private residence and personal garden only. We are not looking to replace local paid tradespeople.
Buckle up people, come up for some fun, to learn, to do, to create, to shake things up and build a brighter future.
We usually aim for 25 hours per week, but would prefer and be open to people who want to stay more involved ( close to 40h/week) and see tangible progress in the project
Every year we are looking for people like you, motivated, curious, happy to do research, independent, skilled or with hidden talents, to join and help us with whatever is happening around the home and land.
YOUR CHALET - YOUR STAY
Renovated in 2024 and fully furnished, you’ll have your own bedroom with a proper, comfortable bed and mattress.
The house is spacious, with a fully equipped kitchen (rice cooker, toaster, etc.), a living room, and of course a bath/shower.
We are located in Myoko Kogen, Niigata-ken, one of the snowiest places on the planet with more than 15 meters of pure powder on average each season!
Enjoy hiking trails, mountain biking, 7 golf courses, and the nearby Nojiriko Lake for SUP and water-sports — just down the road.
We host volunteers because we love meeting people from around the world, learning new perspectives, and exchanging ideas about sustainability, nature, and life.
We hope to learn from your stories and skills, and offer you something valuable in return.
I lived 12 yrs in Indonesia and benn in Myoko 11 yrs, 3 yrs in Australia, few months in India, etc.... let s chat travels!
Contact us for more info, and let’s video chat! Even better!
Have fun out there, it’s still a great world, after all.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Charity Work
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Elderly Companionship
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Interests
Farming
Self development
Sustainability
Carpentry
Cooking & food
Gardening
Plant care
Music
Art & design
Architecture
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Mountain
Outdoor activities
Hiking
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Come and experience living in an onsen mountain countryside village in Japan !
Learn on how to use power tools and work in an organic garden
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
SUM UP OF THE HELP
SUMMER (April to November)
During the warmer months, you’ll help us with various outdoor and homestead tasks around our private residence:
Organic gardening: seedlings, planting, harvesting, weeding, mulching, grass cutting and landscape care &
Food preservation and transformation (jams, pickles, etc.)
Creative hands-on projects around the home, this could include painting, small repairs, sanding, or using tools to help with personal improvement projects.
We love sharing practical skills, so if you’re keen to learn how to use tools or enjoy DIY-style work, you’ll have fun with us. Please note: all projects are strictly related to our private home and not part of any commercial activity.
WINTER (December 1st to March 31st)
In winter, we shift into full snow mode. Tasks include:
Light housekeeping
Welcoming and assisting guests
Snow shoveling
Occasional driving (if you have a valid working visa and international driver’s license)
We sometimes hire seasonal staff separately and pay wages when appropriate. If you're interested in staying longer and earning, feel free to ask—we’re flexible depending on the situation and visa requirements.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Indonesian: Intermediate
Japanese: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
It varies... but you will definitely have your own room or sometimes even your own house!
Renovated in 2024 and fully furnished, you will have your own bedroom with comfortable proper bed and mattresses.
The house is big, a fully set up kitchen (rice cooker, toaster, etc,) a living room, etc
Of course there is a bath/shower.
Now it depends sometimes you might end up with your private house or sometimes sharing facilities.
It is always pretty cozy - you need to live in a nice environment in life :-)
What else ...
We have 3 bikes that you can use.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
For our friends digital nomads - UPDATE June 2025 - We are asking for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, in exchange of staying in your own house, you have your own bedroom in a shared house / depends how many workaway sometimes it s your own house! The work consist on mainly gardening, renovating, housekeeping and of course random tasks...
Space for parking camper vans
Plenty of parking around here in the mountain of Myoko :-)
Can possibly accept pets
Maybe... depends on how many and what type, monkeys, donkeys, girafes, ... ? But pets live outside.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (16)
I appreciated Matthieu's human touch. If l had to do it all over again, I'd stay longer. See you soon Buddy.
Thanks for all these… read more
There was no shortage of work to be done, which made for a huge variety of tasks. In just a few weeks, I was able to do cleaning, tidying, woodworking, painting, grass-cutting, staining, grinding... Both renovation and maintenance… read more
I didn't spend a lot of time with Matt and Jen, but they were in… read more
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(4.9)
I appreciated Matthieu's human touch. If l had to do it all over again, I'd stay longer. See you soon Buddy.
Thanks for all these… read more
There was no shortage of work to be done, which made for a huge variety of tasks. In just a few weeks, I was able to do cleaning, tidying, woodworking, painting, grass-cutting, staining, grinding... Both renovation and maintenance… read more
I didn't spend a lot of time with Matt and Jen, but they were in… read more
I worked with wood, helping in the garden and helping Matt, he was really good with me and teach me some things, he is a good person!
I learned a lot. I only had 2 days with snow but is simply beautiful the mountains!
there's a waterfalls and some hikes you can do.
About the acomodation was perfect you have all you… read more
He learned some carpentry skills while he was here and did it very well. Otherwise David work on plenty of electrical work around the house, set up sensors which are just the future of lighting ;-)
What a guy, walking across Japan! I hope you made it to Hokkaido, it must… read more
What a team. Just brilliant - they stayed with us nearly 2 months.
What a bunch of random tasks they accomplished. And just dedicated, hard workers, all of the above.
Super happy, super friendly, respectful, .... one of the best french people I ever met, and I m French!
I hope you both are going well and will meet again after… read more
But she prepared us some tasty dish and made a bunch of preserve which we will so appreciate this winter! Thank you for your warm hearted food.
Maddie… read more
He mainly work on the electric part of it, working on sensor (which are so amazing), but also did a whole of interior cladding.
Riley has great input and it was very nice to hear his opinion.
I would definitely recommend to have Riley, although he might be busy for… read more
You both were dedicated and accomplished a great mission. They had very little to not much renovation experience, but they built a floor, built a pantry, paint,… read more
She is a quiet person but very nice and calm person to be around.
She helped us for about 3 weeks and did a fantastic job at cleaning deeply that crazy house full of cracks!
Work on staining, painting, all sort of random jobs, and accomplished all those tasks very well. She is very dedicated to what she… read more
She was amazing - I wish I could have spend way more time around her and learn her knowledge on cooking and Ayurveda.
She helped us in the garden and that was fantastic. Great timing!
Of course Cristina was very respectful of our house.
I wish you all the best for your adventures in… read more
All the best for your traveling and rock climbing with Xavier!
Saru came for about 4 weeks in September to help us working in our garden, as well as renovating our house. Some staining, painting roof, cutting grass, cutting wood, ... all sorts of random jobs.
He was great having him around.
I would definitely recommend to have… read more
Paul came out of nowhere, at the right time in my life and will stay in forever.
We had great chats together and definitely not enough.
He helped us with a lot of tasks, garden, house reno but also just great feedbacks and opinion.
He is good at whatever he does - that what he does.
I mean you can just look… read more
He mainly work on the electric part of it, working on sensor (which are so amazing), but also did a whole of interior cladding.
Riley has great input and it was very nice to hear his opinion.
I would definitely recommend to have Riley, although he might be busy for… read more
He worked on CMS - I have so no idea... but little by little I m able to make some change and it s so easy !
Thank you Marko!!!!
I would definitely recommend to have Marko. Always have a big smile, friendly, easy going, ... a great guy all around!
Marko was very respectful of… read more
I would definitely recommend to have Kei. Always have a big smile, friendly, easy going, ... a great guy all around!
Kei was very respectful of our house rules and a great… read more
First of all, thanks Matt for being such a flexible host.
We could all mostly decide when to start and when to stop working - as long as we did the minimum required. So, when to take the days off was also up to us. Just telling it… read more
Stephi the garden is looking amazing today - hope you will make one soon... please… read more
While Rhi spent 4 weeks in the garden where she did a fantastic job - the garden looks unreal today. Rhi please share photos of your garden one day!
The pair of them worked well with us… read more
He did a fantastic job at everything is was doing, chopping wood, painting, cutting grass, cleaning, organizing, cleaning, etc.
So many random tasks!
He was very respectful of our house rules and a great house mate. We would have him again and… read more
There's not enough space to write all that could be said. They were incredibly kind, and have a very special ability to bring sets of strangers into their lives and show them the joy of life and Myoko Kogen. There was a lot of freedom in the work, and autonomy was a great skill to have. From… read more
We highly recommend taking on Nicolas and Cecilia as… read more
It was our first workaway and we couldn't imagine better start for our trip in Japan. We stayed during winter season and it was wonderful.
Myoko is really nice and cute city, with a loooot of snow and definitely something to experience in your life. If you like skiing or snowboarding it's perfect ! There's a lot of nice… read more
Ru is very personable and a joy to be around. She is competent, skilled and is dedicated to contributing to the role at hand as well as bringing joy to the staff… read more
He did a fantastic job at shoveling and housekeeping as well as driving in full snow condition.
Theo was very respectful of our house rules and a great house mate. We would have him again and again.
We wish you all the best and hopefully see you again!
Good… read more
I stayed fort one month, the snow was great, the resort is beautiful and perfect for walking in nature.
A car is provided perfect for doing activities in the area.
I enjoyed my stay and hope to return one day!
I planned to stay 1 month but ended up staying 5months !!
They gave me many chances to experience new things.
They were willing to teach me.
They were always energetic and shining.
They are loved by the local people in Myoko.
Matt, Jen and Kai,
I am really happy to have… read more
Fumika is a gem and I cannot thank her enough.
She came here for 1 month and end up staying 5! October 2021 to March 2022
We have had more than 100 people working for us in the past 10 years… no one has excel what Fumika has done for us.
She is strong, always willing to help, does not matter the time, how many hours, she… read more
It's really the snowiest place on earth.
I stayed nearly 2 weeks, and I helped out with some house renovations and computer work.
It was an excellent opportunity to explore the areas in my free time.
Matt was also very flexible with the work hours, so it was really helpful for me.
The town is so beautiful… read more
To start off with Myoko is such a beautiful place! Great nature and the ocean is not too far away for a wave craze like Nikolay. And so many mountains to explore if you love hiking like Ai. The people in Myoko are what makes the small village extraordinary as well!
Matt and Jen were… read more
They both did an extraordinary work - lots of different work: some carpentry that Nikolai is really good at, he installed our kitchen too and do much more...
They also did some sanding, staining, varnishing, painting, moving things around, heavy lifting, cleaning,...
It was so good… read more
The tasks I did such as painting and plastering the wall, gardening such as seeding were pretty much activities I have never done before; however, I enjoyed doing so every time!
While… read more
They were hard workers with initiative and did a fantastic job.
Entrepreneurial and a big can do it attitude, those girls rocks.
We wish all the best and hopefully see you again this winter!
Good luck with… read more
Most of the work we did was in the house- staining wood, plastering and painting walls, tidying up and doing some things here and there in… read more
There are various work that you can do at their houses where they’ve been renovating. We helped them cleaning up their rental, tidying up the storage, painting walls, peeling off wallpapers, some… read more
Koyuki and her sister Ko-chan were absolutely amazing.
They came for 1 week to help us with our self contained chalets.
Some housekeeping, some painting, some cleaning, some organizing and some random tasks.
But they also loved playing with our 3.5 yrs old daughter and that was such a lovely bonus!
Overall it… read more
