I was walking around the Hiroshima peace park, and I noticed litter left around, so I picked it up and disposed of it properly and was wondering if there is someone I might talk to about helping keep the park clean, or is that more of a job in Japan or something? Not really sure how volunteering here works.
Thank you!
13 comments
Talk to your 町内会 (neighbourhood association) if you live in the area. If not, you can go to the ward office and ask. They generally have information on those sort of things.
Don’t live in Hiroshima and too lazy to check if they have wards (if not city hall)
Try searching 広島ボランティア, or asking at your local city hall/community center. They probably have info for your area.
Why volunteer when you can get paid for it?
In the building attached to the Peace Museum (International Conference Center) there is an office dedicated for internationals to ask questions like these!
3rd Floor, ask for Hirose
I run a Food Not Bombs chapter in Yokosuka where we feed the homeless, so I’m well-versed in volunteer work. Generally speaking, asking if there’s some sort of volunteer group dedicated to your cause is the first step; failing that, just start your own thing. There’s no laws against picking up trash, so you’ll basically be in the clear if you do it.
Official volunteering is a great way to network. If that’s your goal then go to the city office and ask about. But remember, once you’re on the roster, you’re on it. People have expectations. Can’t just randomly dip out because a k-pop group is in town for the weekend.
If you just wanna keep the park clean then I’d say keep doing what you’re doing. No need to join a group
To not mimic the great advice here, check Meetup for your area. There may be some volunteer groups that have already done the leg work, and you just need to show up.
Also, I would search social media to see if there are any international groups already doing what you want to do in your area!
And last, but not least, check to see if there’s something you can organize for your area. There is a non-profit organization that does an international beach cleanup in the third Saturday of every September. You could form your own group to do that as a part of the greater project.
Good luck!
The other advice here is great but if you wanted to narrow it down to litter picking, you could Google “[park name]+美化活動” and see if it comes up with anything. There may be a regular litter picking group in that park that you could join
[https://plogging.jp/](https://plogging.jp/)
This has gotten popular. It was initially a Swedish concept I think? Maybe you can find a local group that goes out together.
Where I live I often see people cleaning up in the park, and they’re not a part of any organization. They just do it.
If your municipality has official fee-based trash bags (e.g. Kyoto City), they may have special free trash bags for this purpose. Kyoto City does.
Good on you. Those [hedges](http://thejapanwanko.sub.jp/?p=3604) aren’t going to clean themselves.
You can get in touch with [JJ Walsh](https://linktr.ee/jjwalsh). I’m pretty sure she’s based in Hiroshima and she’s plugged into this kind of thing.