I’ve been wanting to try farming for the longest time ever. There’s a few places I had in mind. Australia and New Zealand for fruits, Italy and France for vineyard, Japan for tea and rice. In the end, I chose Japan for a few reasons but mainly to improve my Japanese.
As this is my first time and I’m not sure if I will like it, I’ve decided to try a short gig. I searched online for platforms that could connect me with hosting farmers and WWOOF was the top search. After reviewing feedback, looking at the hosts, type of work available and reading blogs, I’ve decided to trust WWOOF and registered as a member. WWOOF doesn’t have a main central website. To WWOOF in Japan, you need to register on the WWOOF Japan website. Their headquarters is in Hokkaido. To apply as a member (WWoofer), there is a yearly fee of 5,500 yen via paypal.
Before I applied as a WWoofer, I was browsing the host list and looking for hosts and jobs that I am interested in. I was hoping to try tea farming but surprisingly, it was rather difficult to find a host that does that. I settled for fruits and rice instead because I’m not a fan of animal husbandry. You can easily find a host by area that you like. I was looking around either Chiba, Shizuoka or Fukuoka area. I ended up shortlisting two in Fukuoka and wrote in to one first, and if I didn’t get any response in the next few days, I’ll write in to another. In the message, I asked if I can WWOOF from 15 Oct to 28 Oct 2019. I wrote in English and Japanese (with some help from Google) just in case. I messaged the host 1.5 months before because I needed some confirmation before booking my flight.
Turns out, I was really lucky that the host that I wrote to checked his WWOOF mail everyday and I got a reply the next day. I guess it helps to check if the WWOOF host is active by reading the host profile. For example, some of them will update they are urgently looking for WWoofer or they are not looking for WWoofer. My WWOOF host (h2792 embed link) told me that he can take me in on those dates. He also told me that in order to obtain his contact information, I had to click on the ‘Request Contact Information’ link at the top of the host profile page. After that my host disclosed his contact information. The contact information will disappear in one week, so remember to note it down! Nearer to the date, we used the same platform (WWOOF message) to contact each other.
Register as a member (WWOOFer) on WWOOF Japan
Decide on the host and message them using WWOOF message and let them know the dates you wish to commit to (and how many people).
You will usually receive an email notification that you have WWOOF message and go to WWOOF Japan website to check. It is best to check the website message inbox everyday just in case.
Once your host replies and accepts your dates, click on the ‘Request Contact Information’ link at the top of the host profile page.
Your host will share his/her contact information. Remember to note it down as the contact information will disappear in one week.
Remember to print your WWoofer permit as you will need to give the hardcopy to your host. Click on ‘WWoofer Permit’ on the left menu bar. Please also bring the identification that you registered (e.g. if you register using your passport as identification, you will need to show your passport to the host for verification).
Fast forward to my 1 month trip to Japan. I planned to farm for 2 weeks and explore around Kyushu in the next 2 weeks. Thank god I went with Fukuoka in the end because Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan and most of the regions were affected except for Kyushu region. Chiba was probably one of the worst hit areas. My flight wasn’t cancelled and I landed in Fukuoka on 13 Oct. I contacted my host on WWOOF Japan website one day before to arrange for pick up (because in the contact information, it was mentioned that he can meet at the bus station or the train station). I stayed 2 nights in Fukuoka City before taking a train to Kurume to explore a little then take another local train to Chikugo Ooishi to meet my host. My host is working, so he could only meet me after 5pm.
I got off the train, probably the only person to alight at this stop because it’s the country after all. Most people drive or in fact, take the expressway bus that is faster and more convenient (I learnt about the expressway bus from my host and it became my main mode of transport when I travel around Kyushu). My host, Hayashi-san along with 2 other WWoofers from France met me at the train station. Hayashi-san drove us back to his house and I was shown to my room. My room is a Japanese tatami room and there is a small table, laundry rack and futon for me to sleep on. Preliminaries, I gave Hayashi-san my WWoofer permit and showed my passport as verification and Hayashi-san explained to me the expectations and schedule. We talked for a bit as well, getting to know each other, Hayashi-san is an experienced WWOOF host of 12 years and had 300 over WWoofers in this duration.
Here’s the schedule from Monday to Saturday:
0700: Wake up and get ready for breakfast
0800 – 1200: Work (teatime usually at 10am for 30mins)
1300 – 1700: Work (teatime usually at 3pm for 30mins)
Sunday is my break but 3 meals are provided at the same time as well.
After Hayashi-san showed me around the house and settled in, at around 7+pm, Hayashi-san told us that dinner was ready. We went to the kitchen and everyone had dinner. It was really delicious, the meals were prepared by Hayashi-san’s daughter-in-law, Maho-san. There’s three generations in this house for meals, Hayashi-san and his wife, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. We each have our own utensils for food and there’s master utensils on the dishes as well. My fellow French WWoofers were really nice too. They have been WWoofing for 10 months on a 1 year working holiday visa. They are a couple and one of them spoke really good Japanese. I felt relieved knowing that as time went by, her Japanese improved because like me, she learnt Japanese back in France but when she first arrived in Japan, she couldn’t really speak and understand. It also helped that our host family only speaks Japanese, so we are forced to learn. But not to be afraid, even if you don’t understand Japanese, it is fine. Hayashi-san and his family are very nice and they would either try to simplify the Japanese for us or gestures do help as well. Or you might be lucky like me to meet fellow WWoofers who can speak and understand some Japanese. But it is true, I managed to speak better than I did back home because I am in an environment where I have to listen, understand and speak Japanese everyday for 2 weeks that gradually, I am a bit more comfortable and confident with the language.
The next morning, I woke up early at 6.20am to get ready. I was freezing in the middle of the night not sleeping under the futon. At 7am, the morning community announcement began. It’s really interesting to hear that, where promptly, they will announce 3 times, one in the morning at 7am, one in the afternoon at 12pm and one in the evening at 7pm. Mostly to give news highlights, community updates and weather updates. We had breakfast at around 7+am where Hayashi-san’s wife prepared for us and after that, at 8am, we started work.
We went to the workroom across the house and started organising and cleaning the workroom. Our task for the day is to weigh and sort the pears that were harvested yesterday. I brought my own work gloves to the farm because on the profile, I saw that I’ll need to bring a few items like gloves, raincoats and rubber boots. I was a little worried about the rubber boots but turns out I could borrow gloves, coats and boots from the farm. However, I strongly advise bringing 2 sets of gloves in case of wet weather, because we had to experience wearing wet gloves for work and it wasn’t the most comfortable feeling ever.
Hence, my first farm work commenced. To sort the pears by weight, there is a machine to do it. First, at the other side of the machine, Hayashi-san added the respective stone weight, then, he started the machine and started putting each pear on the scale. As the pear moves across the machine, it measures the weight, it is the same, it drops down to the relevant slot. We on the other side of the machine will collect them and place them in the crate. The tough part is to carry and stack the crates because it’s heavy AF. Surprisingly, this requires stamina because the machine is going relatively fast and we had to constantly shift things around. At 10am, we stopped work for tea time. We sat on crates and around the table to have hot tea, snacks and pear. Hayashi-san peeled the skin and cut the pears for us. The pears were super sweet and juicy. It was a half an hour break and we learned more about each other and culture while we ate.
10.30am, we went back to sort the pear. Once sorting is done, we removed the pear wrappers and cut the stem and placed it back to the crate. I learnt that they wrapped the pears while it is growing to prevent the crows from eating it. While working, we listened to the radio Hayashi-san tuned in to and occasionally, conversed while we work. This goes on until 12pm where we went back to the house for lunch. We rested for a while until Hayashi-san called us for lunch and we went to the kitchen to eat the food Maho-san (Hayashi-san’s daughter-in-law) prepared for us. After lunch, we went back to our room to rest until 1pm where we headed back to the workroom to continue working on the pears. At 3pm, it’s tea time and again, we sat on crates and drank tea, ate snacks and pears. 30 minutes up, we went back to work until 5pm. Seigo-san (Hayashi-san’s son) told us we can go and gave us a drink which was their product. Kabosu juice. Really refreshing.
First day was tiring for me because I don’t exercise at all and stacking crates of pears was super challenging for me as I lack the strength. Nonetheless, I didn’t think it was boring and rather enjoyed the work. We went back to the house where we can do whatever we want until Hayashi-san called us at around 7plus pm for dinner. Dinner was prepared by Maho-san as well and there’s always many dishes including leftovers. What I loved the most is that the Japanese don’t like to waste food. We ate leftovers for days until it finished. For all meals, we usually ate with Hayashi-san and his family, hence there were interactions every time. After dinner, we are back to our room to rest. I was really tired and could start to feel the soreness in my muscles, knowing too well that the next day will be really tough.
Similarly, I woke up at 6.20am, still freezing because I was dumb enough not to sleep under the futon. But this time, I wore long pants and sweater to sleep so it wasn’t as bad as the first night. And true enough, my muscles were sore AF. After our 7+am breakfast, Hayashi-san drove us to the rice field. Our job today was to harvest rice. We were in our normal shoes, clothes and gloves. To the field, Hayashi-san taught us how to harvest the rice. Using the sickle, we cut the rice crop which was later placed on a machine to remove the husk from the crop. We were asked to harvest three-quarters of the field first because kindergarten children from Fukuoka will be coming over for field trips and they will try to harvest the rice crop as well. At 10am, we sat in the field and had our tea. There was a persimmon tree there and we plucked a few persimmons for our snack. Just like the pear, these persimmons were super sweet and juicy.
From a distance, we could hear the kids walking towards the field. Hayashi-san’s son, Seigo-san taught the kids how to harvest the rice. They took turns to try and while waiting, some of the kids were distracted by Hayashi-san, who was fixing the machine while others were busy looking at insects. They were pretty fascinated by us because we don’t look Japanese. One kid asked me if I could touch insects. To be honest, I am not a fan of insects, but when fully clothed, I could co-exist in an outdoor field. The weather wasn’t really doing great, it started drizzling and after the kids left for the pear field, we resumed work, harvesting all the rice crop. These rice were actually used to make mochi. By the time we finished, and tied the straws, it was raining pretty heavily and we went back to the house for lunch.
After lunch and break, we went back to the workroom to finish up our task from yesterday. One of the workers, Chi-san came in to help, we had tea at 3pm. After tea time, we were geared up, covered with raincoats, pants and boots. Off to the pear farm to harvest some pears in the wet weather. We loaded empty crates on the back of the truck and Hayashi-san drove me to the farm while both Camilles followed Chi-san in her car.
At the pear farm, we transported the empty crates on the tractor to the end of the farm, then hung basket around us and began plucking pears from the trees to our baskets and once that’s full, placed them in the crate. I thought it was as simple as just plucking pear off the stem but I was told to be careful and how to pluck the pears from the trees as new pears will grow from the stems. As it was still raining, it was a bit uncomfortable, where water will fall on us when we harvest and with the humidity, there were tons of mosquitoes. Harvesting the pears was also tricky because we need to follow the branches from respective trees. After collecting around 20 crates of pears, we transported them back to the farm and called it a day. Harvesting pears is definitely an easier task than sorting them.
Dinner as usual was great, and we usually gained more knowledge about Japan, culture and food from dinner conversation. Hayashi-san offered some homemade umeshu and it was really nice! Their family don’t really drink alcohol, so I was a great help to finish the umeshu.
The next day after breakfast, we went back to the workroom to sort the pears. After lunch, Hayashi-san drove us to the farmers’ market to have a look. There, we saw various products and there were pears from the Hayashi farm there as well.
Hayashi-san then drove us up to the mountain to sight-see. After looking at the scenery and taking photos, he drove us to the next destination, the community centre where they are getting ready to exhibit their work. Hayashi-san is part of the photography club and there is an exhibition where members exhibit the photos they took. The gym was divided into two sections so that one is for the photography club and the other is for the calligraphy club. The photography club members were really friendly and we were talking afterwards. There was a lady who could write kanji names really nicely and all the members were asking her to help them write theirs. I chimed in and asked if she could write mine too.
We hung at the photography club for 1.5 hours and I thought that was probably the end. Turns out we were not going back, Hayashi-san drove us to Asakura where there is a famous park, Kunishiseki Hiratsuka Kawazoe Iseki Park, however, the park was closed. Hayashi-san then drove us to the Kirin Beer Factory where it is in season the cosmos field is in full bloom. He dropped by a 7-11 to buy umbrellas first as the weather was pretty bad. Upon arriving at the field, we could see that there were two huge fields of cosmos and we were trying to take photos in the rain.
I’ve decided to go to the onsen next door after having been attacked by mosquitoes, hoping the hot water will relieve the itch. The onsen fee is 500 yen but Hayashi-san gave us free tickets to the onsen and without further ado, I walked next door with an umbrella and my clothes.
I gave the ticket to the owner of the onsen who’s really friendly and before entering, I asked her if there’s shampoo in the onsen. She said there isn’t and I went back to the house to take all my essentials. Went back to the onsen and she asked me to take my time. This is my second onsen experience. I was lucky the first onsen, I had it to myself. But this time round, there were people in the onsen. What I found really funny or interesting was that people talk to each other naked. So this old lady was wearing her clothes while I was preparing to take off mine and she started talking to me and asking me about the weather if it was still raining outside and if it is huge that requires an umbrella. Being polite, I replied to her until she was done and left.
Then I was ready to go in when a lady came out of the onsen, greeted me and told me to take my time. So I guess it’s just manners where the locals greet each other and tell each other to take their time to enjoy the onsen. It is customary to not wear clothes in the onsen area and it is important to bathe first before entering the onsen. There’s soap at the bathing area. After showering, I went into the indoor onsen. Inside, ladies were talking to each other and I went to the corner of the onsen. I asked if I could go to the outdoor onsen and they told me I can and where it was. I went outdoors and enjoyed the onsen alone. After a while, Camille joined me at the outdoor onsen and we chatted, learning more about her other WWOOF-ing experience and work.
After a hard day of work and muscle ache, a soak in the onsen proves to be a really great choice. I finally understood why in the game, Harvest Moon, there’s onsen that could relieve fatigue after farming. Dinner was amazing. Japanese curry rice and because it’s the season, Maho-san added pears to the curry which made it sweet and flavorful.
The next day, we went to the field to harvest. This time round, Camille brought mosquito repellent along and offered me to use it. We spent the morning harvesting crates of pears and after that, Hayashi-san drove us out to Oita for lunch. Apparently, Hayashi-san knows the owner and it has a really nice ambience to it. Biko Oita Cafe & Space. Hayashi-san treats us to the Japanese set, which comes with salad, miso soup and the main consists of meat, vege and onigiri. It was such a huge serving that I forced it down, NO FOOD WASTE! We finished with a cup of organic coffee which surprisingly, wasn’t as bitter as I thought.
After lunch, Hayashi-san brought us to sight-see around, we went to this forest where trees were really old and afterwards, he drove us to a ceramic workroom where he bought us tea cups as gifts.
Oita is on the other side of the mountain from the place we are at, and the drive between mountains and fields with the window open was really refreshing. We were back to the pear fields to harvest more pears for the rest of the day. However, that was not all, after transporting the harvested pears to the workroom, Hayashi-san drove us to the town to catch the sunset. We were taking photos and timelapse videos but the view was pretty magnificent.
Back at the house, I did my laundry and hung them outside, hoping they will be dry by Monday.
On Sunday, it was my rest day and also Camilles’ last day. I truly enjoyed their company and couldn’t have asked for a better WWOOF mates. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge from our conversations and really admire them for WWOOF-ing around for 1 year. After parting ways, I borrowed a bicycle from Hayashi-san and rode to the town. First thing on the list is to the drug store. I wanted to get mosquito repellent but couldn’t find it. It’s the season where everyone was buying that there’s no more stock. Since I am back to civilisation, I bought some drinks and materials that I can write on. I continued to explore around and the weather was turning rather warm. Got myself an ice-cream from the convenient store and continued cycling around until it was around lunch time that I cycled back to the house. Lunch was provided on Sunday as well. Hayashi-san joined me at lunch and asked if I am interested in playing golf. Apparently there’s a park golf game that he is going to participate in and invited me to join.
After lunch, he drove to the park and it was really crowded. There is a competition going on and there were probably 12 teams of 4 playing. I joined a team where I met Nashi-san, Yasuie-san and another younger guy who’s name I forgot. Of course I was the worst player scoring 90 points. The higher your score, the worse you fare. But it was a really fun moment. Yasuie-san even bought me drinks. After the match, the winners received prizes and participants got drinks and tissue paper. Yasuie-san even gave me the prize that she won (mostly snacks). Really cute. But everyone was so friendly and inclusive. I also met Hayashi-san’s cousin, Hajime-san.
Back to the house, I thought that was the end. I took a short break and was thinking if I should cycle to town again. Was about to head outside when Hayashi-san invited me to another place. We walked across his house to another house. Behind that house is a pavilion and people were laying out food. Apparently it was a feast probably to celebrate the harvest season. I had my first horse sashimi. Kyushu-ben was really difficult to understand but I had a great time mingling with everyone. They kept pouring alcohol for me but I am gamed for it. Hayashi-san’s cousin was also really cute and friendly. She was the one who made sure I was looked after. Their hospitality really touched me.
After the feast, which was essentially dinner, I went to the onsen for another soak. After onsen, I went back to the room where I swapped room to Camille’s room as another WWOOFer will be joining in the next few days.
Breakfast was prepared by Maho-san and after breakfast, we went to the workroom to separate pears for juice and those to sell. Sakuragi-san, a friend of Hayashi-san came to help out this morning. We had snacks tea and snacks at 10am. The snacks were really nice, brown sugar snacks from Okinawa. We continued sorting our pears and went back to the house for lunch at 12pm.
It was sorting of pears that we harvested after lunch, cutting the stems and placing them in the crate. We ate the famous Fukuoka snack that is usually for souvenirs, Hakata torimon. Back to doing the same work until 5pm. In between, the captain whom I met yesterday at the feast came over and said hi. He’s so funny and jovial, calling me “shachou” – president. Ha.
Sleeping under the futon was really a game changer that I survived 13 degrees celsius feeling warm at times. This morning, after breakfast, we went to the workroom to unwrap and put the pears into the crates. It was just Hayashi-san, Sakuragi-san and I. Chi-san joined us after tea time. Lunch today was yakisoba and they were so good.
After lunch, Hayashi-san drove us up to the mountain by van to harvest kabosu. It’s a bit like citrus/lime/calamansi. There were so many spider webs and insects in the kabosu field. I teamed up with Chi-san, while she cuts fruit from the tree, I picked them up. We harvested 8 crates of kabosu and I think pears were so much easier to harvest. We had our tea time on the mountain before heading back to the workroom to finish up with the pears. The journey up and down the mountain was kind of bumpy and I was surprised I didn’t get motion sickness, probably because the window was opened. In general, the view was really serene and beautiful.
It was a national holiday today where the new emperor ascended the throne, but I guess as a farmer, holidays are different.
After breakfast, we spent the whole day harvesting as it was going to rain for the next few days. We harvested a truck load of pears, went back to the workroom to unload them and have tea, before leaving for the field again to harvest another truckload of pear. It was a little windy and there were less mosquitoes in the cool morning. Back to the house for lunch and my appetite was ravenous with all the stamina and strength that I used up, I just can’t stop eating. Before leaving for the field, I paste salonpas near my neck in hopes to ward off mosquitoes. We harvested another truckload of pears. We got to ride on the tractor while going into the field, it’s like ATV, bumpy and fun. We went back to the workroom to unload the pears and had our tea. Teatime with Chi-san and Sakuragi-san was really entertaining and funny.
At 3pm after tea, we rode the van to the mountain to harvest shinkou pears. It was a bit of a challenge as the pears need to be around 500g, not too small and not too big to be harvested. It was a little hard to gauge but I’d say my accuracy was 70%-80% right. We harvested 10 crates of pears in total. Hayashi-san was burning the wrapping papers on the mountain, didn’t know they could do that there. It was time to end work and we drove back, but popped by a convenient store as Sakuragi-san wanted to buy some beer. Back to the house, I went to the onsen and did my laundry before dinner was ready.
This morning, I was helping Shingo-san to sort kabosu we picked the other day. Sorting kabosu was tricky as I couldn’t really tell which goes to the juice crate and which goes to the box. After tea time, Chi-san joined us to help unwrap the shinkou pears we harvested from the mountains yesterday. After lunch, it was sorting and putting the pears in the respective crates. It was really tough as there’s only Chi-san and myself moving the crates around. We sorted about 135 crates of pears, about 4050 pears in total.
Hajime-san came over today to say hi. I love Hajime-san, she’s so cute. She asked how am I and if work is tough, then whispered and asked if the sake she poured me was good. It was Chi-san’s last day of work and before we parted ways, she gave me something as a gift, really nice of her.
Back in the house, I decided to throw away the accumulated plastic bottles, and it’s a bit difficult to understand how to do it because they separate their trash and have ways to handle PET bottles.
The whole day, we were working on unwrapping pears and putting them in crates. Dinner time and I learnt so much about Japanese food and culture. Shingo-san, Maho-san and I were mostly chatting about travel and I learnt about the different regions preference for white miso or red miso.
After breakfast, I was in the workroom unwrapping pears with Sakuragi-san helping. Then after lunch, Hayashi-san and I drove to the bus terminal to pick up the new WWOOFer from Thailand. On the way back, I was kind of like a translator, I really think my Japanese has improved in just a few days.
Back in the workroom, we continued from where we stopped while listening to music. After tea time, we drove up to the mountain to harvest pears. It was my last working day and Hayashi-san asked if there’s anything I want to see. Sakuragi-san suggested we visit the Ukihainari shrine as the weather was good and we might get a great view. So Hayashi-san drove down the mountain then up another mountain to the shrine. The view is really amazing! The tori gates are on steps and viewing from the top is nicer. We took lots of pictures before heading back to the house, stopping by the convenience store so that Sakuragi-san can get some beer.
It’s my rest day but the food arrangement is still at the same time. The things I did on my last Sunday, I cycled, fell down, did my laundry, spent my day writing thank you note, went back for lunch, went out to town again and around the farm to take photos, by foot. I’m really intrigued with the coin sneaker laundry. I could wash my shoes and dry them all in an hour!
Next morning after breakfast and around 9-ish. Hayashi-san gave me some snacks and pears as parting gift. He also drove me to the bus station to catch a bus to Beppu. He waited with me until the bus came and he asked if I can take the bus without reservation. Usually the bus from Haki to Beppu requires reservation as it’s a popular route over the weekends. But Monday morning should be fine and off I go embarking on my journey to explore around Kyushu.
Final thoughts. First WWOOF-ing that went really well. It’s literally Harvest Moon come to life. Glad to have met a good host, family and fellow WWOOFers. I was really thankful to Hayashi-san and his family for making my first WWOOF-ing such a good memory. The people in town were all so friendly, nice and inclusive. I truly had a good experience and would love to try it again on a work visa for a year before I turn 30.
2 gloves so that you can use a dry one in case the other is wet
Farm clothes, long sleeve top and long sleeve bottom (pack light, you can always do your laundry though weather plays a part how fast your clothes dries)
Shoes (usually can borrow work boots and raincoats if we are going to the field)
Hat or Cap (not compulsory)
WWOOF Experience in Japan I’ve been wanting to try farming for the longest time ever. There’s a few places I had in mind.
