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Volunteering, Internship, or Working Holiday – What to choose?

The best choice for you depends on several factors:


  • Why do you want to come to Japan?
  • How long do you want to stay in Japan?
  • Your nationality and age (due to visa availability)
  • What financial resources do you have?


Internship


The goal of an international internship in Japan is typically to gain practical work experience in a field of your interest within a culturally new environment. The internships we arrange are unpaid, and you must cover all costs yourself, including our program fees, your travel expenses, and your living costs in Japan. This means you need to have sufficient financial resources to afford your stay.


We recommend a duration of 5 to 12 weeks for internships. Many nationalities can do an unpaid internship under visa exemption with the "Temporary Visitor Status," )90 days for most nationalities) which is the entry stamp provided at the airport in Japan. If you are of a nationality that cannot get the Temporary Visitor Status, we can provide documents for you to apply for a visa, at a small extra fee for making those arrangements. Please note that we cannot provide these documents to all nationalities.


Only citizens of the UK, Ireland, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg can extended by the initial 90 days of the Temporary Visitor Status locally in Japan by another 90 days. This means they can do an internship for up to 24 weeks.


Working Holiday


Longer stays beyond the 90/180-day visa exemption are possible with the Working Holiday Visa. This visa is however only aavilable for certain nationalities, including citizens of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Uruguay who are 18-30 years old when applying for the visa. Depending on the nationatliy, they can stay for one year, 18 months, 24 months, or can get two inconsecutive stays of 1 year, and can legally earn an income in Japan with almost no restrictions.


Financially, a Working Holiday is the most attractive option, as you earn a regular salary. Typical Working Holiday jobs are often simple positions aimed primarily at helping you finance a longer stay in Japan.


Some Working Holiday jobs however overlap in content with the activities we also offer as volunteering or internships, such as English-speaking childcare and farm work.


For example, we offer unpaid short-term internships in English-speaking childcare in Tokyo (4–24 weeks), as well as fully paid Working Holiday jobs in childcare with a minimum duration of 6 months. So, for the paid jobs, you need to commit for a longer period.


Farm work is available both as a paid Working Holiday job and as an unpaid farm stay internship. We recommend the unpaid farm stay internship if you only want to come for a short time and don’t want to use a Working Holiday Visa, or if your nationality does not allow you to get a Working Holiday Visa.


In industries other than childcare and farm work—such as business, media, or IT—it is less realistic to find a fully paid Working Holiday job if you don’t speak fluent Japanese. For these fields, an unpaid internship is a more realistic option than a paid Working Holiday job for most of our participants.


Of course, if you are in Japan for a longer time on a Working Holiday Visa, you can combine paid jobs with unpaid volunteering or internships to explore sectors or activities that are harder to access through regular Working Holiday jobs.


If you are of a nationality that cannot get a Working Holiday Visa and you want to stay in Japan for a longer time (6-24 months), and learn Japanese, you might consider the Student Visa option. You can also get a Work Permit (max. 28 hours of employment per week) when on a Student Visa, and make use of our Working Holiday support in Japan.


Volunteering


The focus here is on contributing to a non-profit cause, such as environmental protection, animal welfare, or the care of children who, for various reasons, do not go through the formal school system.


As with internships, you must finance your entire stay yourself, including our program fees, your travel, and your other living expenses in Japan.


We recommend shorter durations for volunteering. Depending on the project, volunteering can start from just one week, and the maximum duration is only limited by the validity of your visa or visa exemption (Temporary Visitor Status for a maximum of 90/180 days, as mentioned above). If you are of a nationality that cannot get the Temporary Visitor Status, we can provide documents for you to apply for a visa, at a small extra fee for making those arrangements. Please note that we cannot provide these documents to all nationalities.



Updated on: 22/07/2025