Oct 24, 2024
Contributing to your community?
An idea for a grassroots theme: What do you do that contributes to your community, whether it's a tight-knit family endeavor, something you do with a community group, a chamber of commerce, a city project, or a solo initiative? For inspiration and ideas, see my blog - https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/TonetoEdo/GloLq-living_chiba_noda_shi_chiba
Best Answer
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on Oct 25
Tied to this topic (I was just thinking about this more from an expat perspective), I think volunteering is a REALLY good way to make connections with people, especially when you're new here. When we first moved to Japan it was because of my husband's job, and I didn't know a soul or have employment myself. Volunteering got me out of the house, helped me connect with other community-minded people, gave me some purpose, and also led to friendships that were continued outside the volunteering space. I know a lot of people struggle here with loneliness or finding connections -- it can absolutely be hard to put yourself out there and meet new people. For me personally as someone who is more introverted in nature, having "task-focused" volunteer/community activities (e.g. preparing food, cleaning up afterwards, etc.) made it easier to make conversation with people and develop those connections.
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on Oct 25
When I lived in Tokyo my husband and I volunteered with a few organizations: Second Harvest Japan (distributing meals at places like Ueno Park to homeless individuals https://2hj.org/english/), plus through the church we were attending at the time - through them we also did onigiri making for Tokyo's homeless population, and went to events that supported orphaned children including a day out at Toshimaen back when it was still open. Lots of happy memories from when we did those activities! Locally here in Niigata, I would say it's more a case of helping your neighbors rather than any specific organized contributions. When it snows heavily my husband will shovel the walkways of our older neighbors, for instance. When our kids were younger at yochien, he was also called upon yearly to dress up as Santa Claus for their annual Christmas party.
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on Nov 10
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on Nov 20
I would recommend anyone looking for organized volunteer opportunities to search the name of their city + volunteer (in Japanese) online. https://www.mu-shakyo.or.jp/join-volunteer/ This is one of the sites I found for my local area, which has a few options listed including things like snow removal for people who can't do it by themselves (that's a common one to see people helping out with in our area), and helping run sports events for those with physical disabilities.
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