Hi everyone, I will be graduating next year and would like to use my one-time voucher for a WHV. I’ve already made a rough plan of what I want my trip to look like, but I’m not quite sure if that’s even possible.
I plan to work for various WWOOF and WorkAway hosts, mostly unpaid and just in exchange for food and a place to sleep. Maybe I’ll do some jobs that I get paid for to fill up some of my travel fund.
I would like to start my trip in mid-May from Tokyo to the southwest (Fukuoka) and slowly work my way up to Hokkaido as temperatures rise maybe till September / October.
I don’t have a WHV yet, I will apply for one as soon as some requirements are lifted. After that I will contact the hosts according to my rough plan.
My rough plan is as follows:
1. Arrival: Fly to Tokyo. Stay there for about 3 days, get a Japanese phone number and set up a bank account. In case I will need it later.
2. Travel / Work: Work on some farms near the big cities (Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kyoto / Osaka, Nagoya) for one to two weeks at a time, depending on the host. Sightseeing and enjoying life in my free time.
3. Internship: Once I’m back near Tokyo, I might want to take my chance and do an internship at Rakuten or other companies in the IT field that don’t require a high level of Japanese. For that, I will probably need a Japanese bank account.
4. Travel: My girlfriend will probably arrive in August, during which time I would like to travel more.
5. Travel / Work: When my girlfriend leaves again, I will move on to Sendai and possibly Hokkaido for further work.
6. Departure: Before I leave, I will go back to Tokyo, stay there for a few days, close my bank account and do other things that need to be done, and then leave.
Does that sound feasible? Do I miss something?
Do you have any advice (e.g. general, internship, bank account, taxes)?
Any recommendations (e.g. hosts, internship companies, places of interest)?
On a side note: I speak a little Japanese, but I’m going to take some Japanese courses before my trip.
1 comment
I’m leaving your post because you have clearly done some research, but you will get much more useful responses if you specify what you want advice _about_ and what you are looking for recommendations _for_.