Experience life living in a machiya near Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan

Infos

• 

  Description

  We are a family of three. We’d love to share our table, our stories, and the quiet rhythm of everyday life in Kyoto, where the seasons unfold one day at a time.

• 

  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

  Aide à la maison
• 

  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Livres

  

  Animaux

  

  Art et design

  

  Montagne

  

  Nature

  

  Fitness

  

  Camping
• 

  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  Experience everyday life in a Kyoto machiya, in either English or Japanese. We hope to share meals, stories, and cultures naturally together.

• 

  Projets impliquant des enfants

  Ce projet peut impliquer des enfants. Pour en savoir plus, consultez nos directives et conseils ici.

• 

  Aide

  To avoid any problems, I have tried to describe the lifestyle in our mind and the help we need in as much detail as possible.
  
  This text is quite long but as summary, it is as follows:
  
  1. We live in a machiya, gather around the table, and see the moving of Kyoto seasons.
  
  2. Since both my wife and I work, your help would bring a little more breathing room to our family's life.
  
  3. During your time, enjoy Kyoto's culture including Ginkaku-ji, Eikan-do, and Nanzen-ji, all within walking distance.
  
  【How We Live Together】
  
  Help us create space, not carry the whole load.
  
  We are a dual-income family, but we don’t need someone to run our household for us. Instead, we’re looking for someone who can make everyday life a little lighter so we have more time and energy for work, family, and ourselves.
  
  We usually ask for help about four weekdays per week.
  
  Rather than spreading a few hours across every day, we’d like to keep our working days together so that your free days are truly free.
  
  A typical working day looks like this:
  
  * Morning until lunch: Free time
  * After lunch (around 1:00 pm) until dinner (around 6:00 pm): Childcare support and light household tasks
  * Evening after dinner: Free time
  
  Working days are decided together about one week in advance.
  
  Life doesn’t always go according to plan—for us or for you—so we hope we can communicate openly and adjust schedules together whenever needed.
  
  ⸻
  
  【Childcare】
  
  Safety comes first. Everything else comes second.
  
  Our daughter is 1½ years old.
  
  She usually takes naps before lunch and again in the late afternoon.
  
  Your role isn’t to raise or babysit our daughter by yourself.
  
  Instead, we’d love for you to spend time playing with her while we are working nearby at home.
  
  You’ll never be asked to:
  
  * babysit her alone
  * stay overnight with her
  * make medical decisions
  
  Your most important job is simply helping her enjoy a safe and happy afternoon.
  
  Sometimes our friends visit with their children and stay with us for a few days.
  
  If that happens, we’d be happy if you could include them in playtime too.
  
  ⸻
  
  【Household Tasks】
  
  Many small things make family life easier.
  
  The tasks are all everyday household chores.
  
  Typical examples include:
  
  * Laundry (washing and drying)
  * Putting clean clothes away
  * Washing dishes
  * Vacuuming upstairs (our robot vacuum cleans downstairs)
  * Cleaning the bathroom
  * Tidying children’s toys
  * Light gardening
  * Other small everyday tasks when needed
  
  We’re not looking for perfection.
  
  We’d much rather share dinner and good conversation than worry about perfectly folded laundry.
  
  ⸻
  
  【Meals & Daily Life】
  
  The table is where we share our lives.
  
  Whenever we cook at home, we’ll prepare meals for you too.
  
  That normally means breakfast, lunch and dinner—weekdays and weekends alike.
  
  Occasionally we may go out for dinner as a couple.
  
  On those evenings, we’d ask you to prepare something for yourself.
  
  You’re always welcome to use anything in our refrigerator.
  
  Normally my wife and I cook.
  
  If you enjoy cooking, we’d love to try food from your country.
  
  Very occasionally—if we’re unusually busy—we might ask if you’d like to cook, but that’s the exception rather than the rule.
  
  ⸻
  
  【Stay the house alone】
  
  Sometimes you’ll have the whole house to yourself.
  
  My work occasionally takes me to Tokyo, other parts of Japan, or overseas.
  
  Because these trips depend on our clients, they’re difficult to predict.
  
  Sometimes we’re away for as long as two weeks.
  
  During those periods, my wife and daughter stay with family in Osaka.
  
  That means:
  
  * No work is expected from you.
  * You’re welcome to continue staying in our house.
  * Utilities remain fully covered by us.
  * Meals are not provided during this period.
  
  The house rules stay exactly the same while we’re away.
  
  ⸻
  
  【Language】
  
  Speak whichever language feels natural.
  
  Both my wife and I speak English.
  
  You’re welcome to speak either English or Japanese.
  
  Our daughter is still learning to speak, so we’d love for her to naturally hear different languages in everyday life.
  
  ⸻
  
  【Your Time】
  
  Kyoto is yours to enjoy.
  
  Your days off are completely yours.
  
  If you’d like to travel for more than four days, we’d simply appreciate knowing beforehand.
  
  You’re also welcome to invite friends over after checking with us first.
  
  There is no curfew.
  
  All we ask is that we respect each other’s routines and home.
  
  ⸻
  
  【Who We’d Love to Meet】
  
  Kindness matters more than experience.
  
  Experience with young children is wonderful, especially:
  
  * Infants and toddlers
  * Au Pair
  * Babysitting
  * Nursery or Early Childhood Education
  * Teaching
  
  But more than any qualification, we’re hoping to meet someone who:
  
  * genuinely enjoys spending time with children
  * communicates openly and honestly
  * values kindness and mutual respect
  * is excited about cultural exchange
  * might become a lifelong friend
  
  We don’t expect perfection.
  
  If something isn’t working for either of us, we’d rather talk openly and solve it together than let small misunderstandings grow.
  
  Our hope isn’t simply to host a Workawayer.
  
  Our hope is to share our table, our stories, and a small chapter of each other’s lives.
  
  If we’re still keeping in touch years after your stay, we’ll consider this experience a great success.

• 

  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Japonais: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
  Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
• 

  Hébergement

  You’ll have a private five-tatami room on the second floor, with a Japanese futon and air conditioning. There is currently no Wi-Fi, but we have already arranged for an internet line to be installed. The room has no built-in storage, though we can provide storage furniture if needed. The bathroom is shared, and there are two shared toilets on the first floor.

• 

  Autres infos...

  You can walk from our home to Ginkaku-ji, Nanzen-ji, and Eikando. A bus stop about five minutes away offers easy access to Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, Gion, and many other parts of Kyoto.

• 

  Informations complémentaires

  • 

    Accès Internet

  • 

    Accès Internet limité

  • 

    Nous avons des animaux

  • 

    Nous sommes fumeurs

  • 

    Familles bienvenues

• 

  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

• 

  Mes animaux

Sécurité du site