Organic Life in Japan

Tags: wwoof, japan, hibiya-koen

During my first trip in Japan 3 years ago I chose to become a member of Willing Worker On Organic Farm organization (a.k.a as WWOOF).

jerome woofer japan in organic rice field

It was my first real contact with organic work and culture. WWOOF organization requires a small fee in exchange of a list. This List contains informations about hosts in Japan who can welcome us. The deal is as follow : we work for them during 5/6 hours a day (usually in the early morning) and in exchange we can stay in their house and have lunch/dinner etc for free. Of course the details must be confirmed before we come. (different kind of deals are possible from one host to an other).

As for me, I went in Tottori to be volunteer in a an organic rice field in order to produce sake :), and in Okayama to grow some strawberries in a green house. Despite it was quite a hard work, it was a great experience thanks to my hosts who did properly their part of the job : guiding me and showing me their country.
My first host Hata San even became a good friend.

If you are not lazy and want to discover something different than the lights of Shinjuku (which is also nice), give a try to WWOOF!

When I was preparing this trip I noticed a host in the list who seemed quite interesting: Brown's field. Mr Brown is a profesional photographer (among other things like Yoga, meditation) and his wife is a specialist in macrobiotic, permaculture stuff; unfortunately they were living really far from where I wanted to go so I did not contact them.
Now they are kind of famous in the world of organic culture in Japan and WWOOFers must register months before to have a chance to be volunteers at their place!

We were checking their blog last sunday morning and this was lucky as they were announcing a special event in Hibiya the same day. One hour after we were over there.


hibiya koen tsuchi to heiwa no saiten poster

This event combined an organic market with a music festival and educational spots (mainly for kids), all of this in a "post-hippy free-tibet" spirit but not too much...safe :)
It took place in Hibiya Koen which is quite funny as this parc is right in the middle of buildings... so not really countryside.


buildings hibiya koen

hibiya koen brownsfield

Of course they were here.

We spent a nice afternoon mix of organic shopping, organic food and organic live ! (electricity were provided by a solar system).
Overall a nice sunny day.

Hibiya koen tsuchi to heiwa no saiten Concert

hibiya koen

hibiya koen

hibiya koen kutsushita

hibiya koen seller

hibiya koen seller

Here some stuff we bought :

Hibiya koen tsuchi to heiwa no saiten

Macrobiotic cooking book(!), tea, bread, and a fundoshi!


Organic is a popular trend in Japan, some farmers now sell their product through the web or to a COOP organization. Then we can register as client to one of these COOP and order organic vegetables and be delivered at home which is quite convenient (Japan is a very convenient country usually).

If you have any questions about Wwoofing in Japan, don't hesitate!

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