Landscaping and helping at home for a Canadian family in Tokyo, Japan

Japan

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1
Last activity
03/01/2020
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Average reply time:
within 5 days

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Availability

2020

Min stay requested: 1 week or less

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What's this?

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Description
We are a Canadian family of five living in Ome (western Tokyo). We are missionaries running a Christian retreat house beside a beautiful river in the mountains.

Before having kids we traveled extensively around the world and have benefited greatly from interacting with people from different cultures and countries.

Our retreat house has a double function of being a community space for local people to connect as well as a place of rest for people from the city.
We love people from every religion however if you are offended by the message of Jesus this probably is not the right place for you.

We have three young children. Most people find them a joy to be around but if you don't like kids this probably is not the right place for you.

We love people but sometimes we need space just to be our family.

We CANNOT host anyone without travel insurance. Medical care in Japan is NOT free.

Please note that it is absolutely NO SMOKING at our place, including the garden and the vicinity.
Type of help
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Other
Help in the house
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Experience the countryside of Tokyo. People are friendly and the nature is beautiful.

You can practice English or Japanese. Experience a fusion culture of Canada and Japan.
Help
The primary tasks include helping in the home (cooking, laundry, cleaning), landscaping and minor construction projects. Please reference your experience in either of these areas when you contact us.

We are not always as organized as we'd like to be so being able to take initiative, keep track of your work hours and having a flexible attitude are essential.
Languages spoken
English and Japanese
Accommodation
The primary accommodation is your own room with two single beds, own shower, toilet and sink. This is on a separate floor from our family bedrooms.

On the rare occasion, the guest suite will not be available in which case you will have your own room but share our shower and toilet.

You can join us for meals or use our kitchen and buy and prepare your own meals.
What else ...
You can swim in and enjoy campfires along the river, as well as multiple mountain hikes in the area.

Visiting shrines and temples nearby including the famous but less touristy Mitake Shrine. The Okutama Lake is about 30 minutes away by a train ride. And of course, you can visit the center of Tokyo once in a while if you miss the crowd and vibrant atmosphere there anytime, though it does cost about 1000 yen one way for the JR train ride.

We live about 15 min. walk from the nearest train station.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Photos

Feedback left by and about host (1)

10/11/2019

Left by Workawayer (Lachlan & Katherine) for host

We stayed with Jesse and Gypsi's family for about one month during October 2019. We were their first Workawayers to stay. Ome is a beautiful area and it was wonderful to be surrounded by the green trees and stay in the family's lovely home.

The accommodation provided to us was probably the nicest we've stayed in Japan (including the hostels we've… read more paid for!), as we had our own large private room with adjoining ensuite. The house is still quite newly built, so many of the tasks were to help set it up further (wood-chopping for winter, cleaning dust left since building, building doors, etc). We also occasionally did some baby-sitting if Jesse and Gypsi had some work to do (or needed some free hands to eat their dinner! ). Sometimes it was not clear what jobs would be required of us during the day, however this improved the longer we stayed as they developed an understanding of how Workawayers could fit into their housework. We personally kept track of our hours to make sure that we satisfied our Workaway requirements.

We opted to work an extra hour each day in exchange for food being provided for us, and we often cooked dinner for the family. The food provided to us was delicious and satisfying, and it was admittedly nice to have access to some western ingredients after having been in Japan for 3-4 months already (yay for hot sauce, spices, and mustard!). Jesse's parents own a local tea shop which Katherine worked at during their busy periods, which was a great opportunity to work alongside Japanese staff and expats. It was also really lovely getting to know Jesse's parents Edie and Steve.

This stay was an excellent opportunity for cultural exchange, both Japanese and North American culture. Jesse and Gypsi have developed a nice community with people in their area, meaning we got to have dinner parties, barbecues, and see the crafts people have made (kimono and other embroidery artwork, indigo dyeing, glass blowing). One of the neighbours is also learning English and guitar, so Lachie was able to have a couple of jam sessions with him! Jesse also grew up in Japan and speaks Japanese fluently, plus he is part of the Ome volunteer fire fighters. He therefore has a lot of insight into Japanese culture which he was able to share with us.

For anyone wondering how they might fit in regarding their spiritual beliefs, we never felt uncomfortable and were never questioned on our belief system. The family says grace before meals (and before work shifts at the tea house) alongside the children doing their introduction of the meal (as per their routine at Japanese kindergarten). So again, there was the opportunity for both Canadian/American and Japanese cultural exchange in one setting. We felt very accepted into the family.

During our stay, we were often unlucky with weather. For example, we weathered Typhoon Hagibis together (but were safe despite Tamagawa River rising out the back!), and often our weekends were raining. This made it a little difficult to plan sightseeing during the week, also considering we weren't always sure of our work schedule each day. However as mentioned above, this improved throughout the month as we all got into the rhythm of things, and Lachie and I were able to see a lot of beautiful areas. Some notable activities we did:
- Mt Mitake on the morning after the typhoon - the sky was so clear we could see all the way to Tokyo!
- Lake Okutama
- Vertere craft beer brewery
- local festival
- Sawanoi sake brewery
- Rose Town Tea Garden :)
- strolled through Ome city
- absorbing the beauty of the area, including seeing the river behind the house (although it looks a bit different now after the typhoon!)

We also recommend taking the 76 bus route early in your trip, because it will allow you to easily see what's easy to get to in the area if you're looking for a way to fill time after a day of working.

Thank you so much to Jesse, Gypsi, Journey, Ollie, and Oasis, for having us stay with you as your first Workawayers! We'll have to see you again some day for a shabu-shabu and guitar party ;)

(Excellent )

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Host ref number: 371377594185

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