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Mother Nature Environmental Conservation Camp Sado Island, Japan

Duration

1 - 12 weeks

Language requirements

English

Availability

Seasonal; April 7 to October 27 (for 2025)

Age

16+

Price starts with

625 EUR

Type of program

Volunteering

At the Mother Nature Camp Program in Japan, you will live on the grounds of the historic Chokokuji Temple on Sado Island and, as a volunteer, contribute to the preservation of the island’s natural environment, particularly to the protection of the Japanese Crested Ibis, as well as to the preservation of the island’s rich cultural heritage. You will experience a part of rural and traditional Japan that remains hidden from tourists or those staying in Japanese cities only.
Description

What will you experience as a volunteer in this program?

As a volunteer, you will join, ofen alongside Japanese volunteers, a variety of activities, for which our volunteer coordinators create a weekly activity plan. These include, on 5.5 days per week:

Preservation of Chokokuji Temple

Chokokuji is one of the largest and most culturally significant temples on Sado. Due to the declining population and the advanced age of the local residents, it is now visited by only a small number of people for religious purposes. The temple’s upkeep cannot be financed through donations from these few individuals. The 87-year-old monk and his wife are solely responsible for the operation and maintenance of the temple.

As a volunteer, you will assist at least once a week with light maintenance and cleaning work on the temple grounds, as well as some light gardening. A special concern of the monk is the temple’s gardens, which shine in vibrant colors throughout the seasons with a variety of blooming plants, including azaleas, hydrangeas, and cosmos.

Groups of schoolchildren regularly visit the temple, and you will prepare activities for the children to engage in during their visit, such as crafts.

Japanese and foreign tourists visit the temple year-round, especially from spring to autumn. The monk offers guided tours and spiritual experiences such as sutra writing, Zen meditation, and Buddhist sermons, which visitors can take part in. You will help the monk prepare these tourist offerings and support the temple with social media marketing.

Our volunteers launched and have been running a small shop since the 2024 season, selling devotional items from Chokokuji Temple, fair trade products, and locally produced natural goods to tourists to generate a small additional income for the temple’s preservation.


Habitat Restoration for the Japanese Crested Ibis

Various local organizations and individuals on Sado carry out activities related to the habitat restoration of the Japanese Crested Ibis, in which you can participate. These mainly involve working in rice fields, such as creating ditches between the fields and working on irrigation systems that ensure small organisms remain accessible year-round as food for the ibises. Additionally, we maintain biotopes and carry out activities to improve biodiversity and water quality.

To stay informed about the details of the ibis reintroduction efforts, we regularly visit the government-run Japanese Crested Ibis Breeding and Research Center and the Japanese Crested Ibis Visitor Park.


Beach Cleanup

Once a week, we remove trash from a section of the beach or another natural area. During the summer months, families and tourists sometimes join in. Most of the waste we collect consists of nylon ropes and nets, other plastic waste from the fishing industry, construction materials like plastic pipes and cables, as well as packaging waste. By removing this waste from the beach, we prevent the tide from washing it back into the sea. The collected waste is picked up by the municipal waste disposal service and incinerated in a city waste facility that uses modern filtration technology.


Bamboo as a Sustainable Material

Bamboo is an extremely fast-growing raw material that can replace plastic and other, less sustainable materials in various applications. On Sado, there is a Bamboo Club that regularly conducts creative bamboo crafting workshops for our volunteers, sometimes joined by Japanese youth groups. You will first learn to make simple objects like cups and chopsticks. Depending on the Bamboo Club’s projects, our volunteers also participate in other bamboo-based initiatives, such as building a bamboo playground on Sobama Beach.


Environmental Education and Cultural Exchange with School Children

Typically, volunteers visit a local school or another children’s initiative once a week to teach kids about environmental protection. Besides environmental education, cultural exchange is also an essential part of these visits, where we play with the children and engage in sports.


Community Work

As a volunteer, you will regularly take part in activities carried out by the local community. These include working on Akiyas—abandoned houses. Due to the declining rural population in Japan, many houses have become abandoned and neglected. Some villages have about 80-90% abandoned buildings. In the village of Matsugasaki, for example, there is an abandoned workshop that belonged to Sado’s last blacksmith, who has since passed away. The remaining villagers wanted to preserve the memory of this traditional craft by converting the workshop into a small exhibition space. Volunteers from our program cleaned out the building and helped set up the exhibition. Other examples of community work include preparing for and participating in cultural festivals or events such as the annual Sado Marathon.


Cultural and Traditional Workshops

We regularly organize participation in workshops and presentations of traditional local culture. Once a year, we take part in building a traditional reed boat, which oyster fishermen used in the past. Other examples include learning to play the Noh flute, Taiko drumming, and Kyogen theater performances.


Wild Herb Activity

Organic Farming

Besides rice, many farmers on Sado grow persimmons, oranges, kiwis, shiitake mushrooms, and other fruits and vegetables. The surrounding forests are also cultivated.

We collaborate with various farmers who practice organic farming and can explain their principles to you. You will assist on their farms. For example, one farmer keeps ducks in the rice fields to eat potential pests, eliminating the need for chemical pesticides.


Supporting Pollinators

The excessive use of chemical pesticides has led to the decline of insects, including valuable pollinators. We support wild bees by creating nesting areas for ground-nesting bees and making and installing insect hotels.


Leisure Activities

Program activities typically take place on 5.5 days per week. During your free time, you can organize activities independently or with other program participants, such as going to the beach, snorkeling, hiking, and sightseeing. You should also visit Sado’s gold mine—we will provide you with information about it.

We also rent bicycles and kimonos at affordable prices. Snorkeling equipment is provided free of charge.



About the Reintroduction of the Japanese Crested Ibis

The Japanese Crested Ibis (Nipponia nippon) is a bird measuring 54-88 cm in length with a wingspan of 140 cm. It was relatively common in Korea, China, Japan, and parts of Russia until the rise of industrial agriculture in the mid-20th century. However, habitat loss, particularly due to the use of chemical pesticides in rice fields that destroyed its food sources and harmed local wildlife, pushed the species to the brink of extinction. By 1981, the species was officially declared extinct in the wild, and the last five Japanese ibises were captured to start a reintroduction program on Sado Island. In 2008, the first captive-bred ibises were released back into the wild. The first wild-born chicks were observed in 2012. Today, there are around 700 ibises on Sado Island and the neighboring Honshu mainland.


About Chokokuji Temple

The temple is said to have been founded in the year 807 by the Buddhist monk Kukai. It houses a variety of cultural treasures, including three Eleven-Headed Kannon statues, which are considered nationally significant cultural assets and were created by Kukai himself. These statues are only presented to the public once every 33 years, with the next display scheduled for the year 2034. Additionally, the temple features statues of Kongo Rikishi (two wrathful guardians of Buddha) dating back to the Heian period (10th–12th century), as well as the Gochido Hall, which is classified as a cultural property of the prefecture. In 2018, the current monk, Tomita, added a large stone "Rabbit Kannon" statue, which is dramatically illuminated at night. In Buddhist teachings, Kannon is a Bodhisattva—a being that has attained enlightenment but chooses to remain in the cycle of birth and death to help all living beings achieve salvation.

On the temple grounds, there are three very large cedar trees that are believed to possess spiritual powers. Their age is estimated to be over 1,000 years, as is that of a Japanese umbrella pine tree, which is over 500 years old. These ancient trees have been designated as natural monuments by the prefecture.

Program details

Rates

Who can join

Everyone can participate in this program. No previous knowledge is required. 

Program start

The 2025 season is from April 7 to October 27, 2025.

You should arrive on a Monday in Sado by ferry from Niigata. You can arrive in Japan the Friday before and stay over the weekend in our sharehouse in Tokyo. You can book accommodation at our Tokyo sharehouse as an extra.

Getting there

From the Ryotsu Ferry Port on Sado, you will be picked up by us at no additional cost on a Monday and taken back there on either a Monday or Friday.

You can take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Niigata (just under 2 hours) and then take the ferry (about 1.5 hours) to Ryotsu/Sado.

If you travel from farther away in Japan, you can also book a domestic flight to Niigata City, from Niigata airport take a city bus to the ferry port, and then take the ferry to Ryotsu/Sado.

Your arrival in Tokyo:
For a small additional fee, you can add the following: You can arrive in Tokyo (Haneda or Narita) on a Friday between 8 am and 8 pm, and we will pick you up from the airport and accompany you to our sharehouse where you will spend 3 nights in a dormitory room. On Monday morning, you will then continue your journey to Sado.

Visa

Many nationalities can stay for up to 90 days (e.g. Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United States and some others), 180 days (Austria, Liechtenstein, Ireland, Switzerland, UK, Germany), 30 days (UAE) or 15 days (Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand) on a Temporary Visitor Status (which is the stamp you get for free at the airport on arrival in Japan) to join this program.

Program participation is also possible on a Working Holiday Visa.

Other nationalities can also join if they have a tourist visa for Japan, but we cannot issue any supporting documents for individuals for the tourist visa application. For groups of any nationality we can provide supporting documents for the visa application though.

Accommodation Options

Accommodation at Chokokuji Temple

On the grounds of the Chokokuji Temple, we use an area with large, fully furnished tents. There is also a small building with two showers (hot water) exclusively for program participants. The temple’s toilet facilities are located about 30 meters away.

The tents can be booked for single, double/twin, or four-share occupancy. They are equipped with single beds, dressers, and a fan. Electricity is available in the tents. Sleeping bags and bedding are provided. For double/twin and four-share occupancy, we try to separate by gender whenever possible, but this cannot always be guaranteed.

At the temple, there are both indoor and outdoor common areas for volunteers. Meals for guests (typically Japanese cuisine) are freshly prepared daily and served buffet-style. There are three meals per day, with 80% of the food being vegetarian.

Extras

Read more

Book or Send an Inquiry

Selected program price
Choose Base Package
Choose Extension Time and Extras

Extension 1 week incl. 4-person tent accommodation on full board

+ 330.00 €

Upgrade to a 2-person tent instead of a 4-person tent per week

+ 60.00 €

Upgrade to a single tent instead of a 4-person tent per week

+ 100.00 €

Overnight stay in Tokyo Sharehouse (before or after Sado) per night

+ 20.00 €

Bicycle for one week

+ 10.00 €

Yukata for one week

+ 10.00 €
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What is included?

VM_WHAT_IS_INCLUDED?
  • Participation in all program activities (offered 5.5 days per week)
  • Orientation and introduction to project activities
  • Transport for program activities on Sado Island
  • Accommodation as booked
  • Full board (3 meals per day) and unlimited drinking water, coffee, and tea
  • Personal consultation and preparation before your arrival
  • Access to the World Unite! Knowledge Base with preparation materials, including intercultural preparation
  • Group preparation session via zoom with other participants
  • Pickup and transfers from/to the Sado (Ryotsu) Ferry Port (Mondays) upon arrival and return to/from Chokokuji Temple (Mondays/Fridays)
  • Support with travel to Sado by our team in Tokyo
  • 24-hour emergency availability of the local support team
  • CO2 compensation for your long-haul flight: Cost coverage for planting 10 seedlings of native trees, which we plant on Kilimanjaro
  • Writing confirmations/certificates for your university, scholarship, child benefit, insurance, etc., as well as completing/signing internship contracts

Not included?

VM_WHAT_IS_NOT_INCLUDED?
  • Travel to/from Sado Island (you book it on your own, we can assist)
  • Insurance (Travel Health Insurance, Liability Insurance, Travel Cancellation insurance)
  • Personal Expenses
  • Vaccinations
  • Weekend leisure activities

INSIGHT

5 REASONS why to join
this program
 

Insights into rural Japanese culture and lifestyle

 

Contribute to preserving Sado’s cultural heritage

 

Get involved in and learn about environmental conservation

 

A breathtaking natural setting

 

A diverse range of program activities

contact chris

Questions?

your consultant for this program is

Chris Engler

(he/his)

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Did you know that you can earn academic credits by joining any of our volunteering abroad programs? Read more.