Haruki

& Koharu

Travel information

We are currently

Activities we are interested in:

Montessori　Childcare　DIY　Hospitality　Photography　Drawing & painting　Languages　Permaculture　Gardening　Farming　Animal care　Outdoor activities　Sustainability　Books　Writing　Music　

Description

Hello! We are Haruki (31) and Koharu (31) from Japan! 

We currently work as housekeepers at an amazing hotel located in the west side of Lofoten islands! (outside of Workaway😉)

Our story began in Norway in 2014, when we studied abroad together in a lovely city, Bergen.
Since we got married in 2019, we've been exploring different styles of life during our 5 years of marriage. 
We have lived in a big city with a population of 14 million, moved to a small island to join merely 2,000 islanders, and even tried a nomad life to live around Japan with the fewest belongings.

"Life is like a box of chocolates."

We could have never ever pictured those adventures at the beginning, but somehow they came out as fruits of our daily conversation, sharing what we wanted to add to our life at each stage :)
And now, we wanna move on to another chapter of our journey through this Workaway experience! 

Haruki has worked in a recruitment department at a shipping company for over 3 years, but the endless corporate ladder didn’t seem to elevate his quality of life.
So he has decided to focus his life on pursuing his true passion, "to engage with child development" and "to accomplish a self-sufficient style of life."
Recently, he worked as an after-school childcare assistant (supervising children with special needs, too) and as an amateur carpenter, he joined a project renovating an abandoned house into a log cabin hotel.

He has some experience as a hotel staffer, salesclerk at fish market in Norway, and even a wild boar hunter in Japan.
He continues to create analog/digital photography as his life work, so he can offer some help with photography work, too.
He is honest, thoughtful, and meticulous in his work, and he loves the outdoors.

Koharu has worked in the IT industry(especially e-commerce) for over 7 years, but just switched her career to become a childcare worker, which has been her dream for many years.
Then, she found the Montessori method by chance.
The holistic idea of Montessori was so fascinating that she found it worth devoting her life to. 
She spent a year studying for an international diploma as a Montessori teacher for infants, and finally acquired it on May 2024.

She has experience with jazz dance choreography and improvised illustration, so she is looking forward to working on cooperative art projects with people from diverse backgrounds.
And if you need help with e-commerce management or Microsoft Office applications, you can ask for her help!
She is cheerful, generous, creative, and always finds the good in people.

As our recent job history, last summer, we worked as cooking assistants for two months at a Japanese hotel.
Then started our working holiday for 1.5 years from autumn 2024.
First we stayed in Jokkmokk, Sweden for a month to support a hotel with housekeeping / reception; cleaning their cosy cabins floating on the water, surrounded by deep forests.
And from October 2024 to April 2025, we stayed in Luleå to work as a co-host of Swedish cabin hotel, mainly in charge of housekeeping.

Throughout 2025, we aim to expand our life experiences while earning money for school tuition, since Haruki also plans to acquire the Montessori diploma in 2026!

In the not-so-distant future, we dream of practicing the Montessori approach in the childcare industry while living in a cozy cabin built by ourselves surrounded by Fauna and Flora :)

Interests

Blogging

Pets

Van life

Writing

Team sports

Fitness

Carpentry

Art & design

Sustainability

Plant care

Photography

Nature

Outdoor activities

Movies & TV

Mountain

Languages

Hiking

Gardening

Farming

Drawing & painting

Dancing

Culture

DIY & crafts

Cooking & food

Charity work

Camping

Books

Animals

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Japanese: Fluent
Chinese (Mandarin): Intermediate
Norwegian: Beginner

More details about my language interests
We are eager to improve our English, Norwegian, and Chinese, or learning new language. We can also teach you Japanese!

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

We're interested in:  

Eco Projects

Gardening

Life at a Farmstay

Being an elderly companion

Charity Work

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Some knowledge of:  

Art Projects

DIY and building projects

Animal Care

Teaching

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping with Computers/ Internet

House sitting

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Able to teach about:  

Languages

Babysitting and creative play

Helping around the house

Hospitality/Tourism

General Maintenance

More details about your skills

We are capable of handling general household chores, taking care of children and pets, as well as providing hospitality.
We have various experiences exploring FOOD - working as a cooking assistance at a Japanese hotel, fishing and processing fish while living on an isolated island, maintaining a small home garden.
Additionally, we spent a year living in various shared houses while traveling, so we love communicating with people from diverse backgrounds.

Haruki has experience of DIY renovation of old Japanese houses, supervising children requiring special support, trapping and butchering a wild boar, and basic mechanical repairs such as fixing film cameras.

Koharu worked in a nursery and just acquired a diploma as a Montessori teacher for ages 0-3.
She also has experience of operating an e-commerce website.

Both of us are interested in creating our own livelihoods with our own hands.
We always look forward to learning new skills and embracing new challenges.

Age

31 & 31

What else ...

Both of us enjoy watching movies, taking long walks on sunny days, singing along while driving, hiking, toasting with beer, gazing at candlelight, and listening to people's stories.
Haruki's hobbies: books, football, and mimicry of Ghibli characters.
Koharu's hobbies: illustration, dancing, and taking afternoon naps.

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  no

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  Special dietary requirements
  no