Aspects of Volunteering

The true nature of volunteer work is not that of escape from boredom or a fashionable feel good activity: it is a serious dedication of time and effort towards the chosen organization.

The principles of a good volunteer are:
• choose to work in an organization whose mission you have an interest in
• make commitments you can keep
• come ready to share your skills and to learn new ones

Volunteering in a foreign country is even more challenging than in one’s home country. Working with foreigners on the same projects and sharing their ideas, hopes and goals however will boost your competence in the new country. Rewarding cross-cultural experience can happen in many ways. It is a good way to give something back to the community in which we live, acquire new skills and develop in ways perhaps not possible in other areas of life.

In addition to the FEW Volunteering Directory there are other resources that might be of interest when thinking of volunteering in Japan.

Also see some frequently asked questions when thinking about volunteering in Tokyo.

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