Contributing to your community?

4 Answers

Best Answer

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  genkidesu

  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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  genkidesu

  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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  BigfamJapan

  on Nov 10

  Good ideas for posts. I've touched on my or my husband's involvement in a few of my posts, and wrote a couple of posts specifically about things I volunteered for in my community, particularly at school, but now that my husband is more deeply involved I have more 'content' to share!

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  genkidesu

  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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