Leaving Denmark soon!

There's now less than 12 hours till I leave Denmark! The last few days have been quite frantic: I had my last day at the job - so I've said goodbye to the colleagues there. Although I have only worked there about a year as a full-time employee, it was quite emotional to say leave my first proper job.
I've also visited some former colleagues, and visited my workplace at the publisher Wiley-Blackwell. The work I do there I can do from anywhere with a computer and an Internet-connection, i.e. almost everywhere. Fortunately, I can keep that job while in Japan!

The last few weekends has also included visiting friends and family to say goodbye: it's quite weird saying "see you" to people, not having any idea when I might see them again! Still, it's been good to do so.

Now, the bags are packed, I've received some last minute vaccinations just this evening, and I'm just about ready to leave.

Band-aid after vaccination: now I can't get hepatitis A or encephalitis ("Japansk hjernehindebetændelse")

The last last few days has also included arranging something to do when in Tokyo, but more about that later. Now it's time to get a last night of sleep in Denmark.

Hotel booked

The first preparations for the vacation has now been completed: I've booked four nights at the Tokyo International Hostel - and I have bought the newest edition of Lonely Planets guide to Japan. I still need to figure out which cities I want to visit. I'm thinking of going to Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto-Nara-Nagasaki-Tokushima, and then to the farm.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.1

Contact to host established

Great news!
I've succeeded in establishing contact to a farm (a "host") through the WWOOF-program. From the 27th of September to the 4th of October I'll be at a farm near Nishidoi (西土居 - apparently a place near the town of Ōtoyo in the Nagaoka District in Kōchi Prefecture at the island of Shikoku - map).


It's so far away from anything, that Wikipedia doesn't even know of the place :)


I hope that I can perhaps arrange to stay there for a while longer than to the 4th - but right now I'm glad that some contact has at least been established, so that I now can begin to prepare the vacation properly.

The plan

This blog will present my preparations for my tour to Japan, and serve as a place to share my experiences when in Japan. It will feature some random scribblings on Japan and some pictures.

The plan

This post will detail what I know of my grand plan, which, in short, can be described this way:

1. Go to Japan
2. Find a job
3. Stay there

There are, of course, many if's and but's in this plan, but I'm going to Japan with the hope that I will find it interesting, and that I will find something meaningful to do once there - so much, so that I would want to stay there. The challenges are, of course, all the practical hurdles - such as getting a job, finding a place to live and so on.

I've already planned how I will begin this task.

Getting there, getting in

Getting to Japan is not difficult. I'll fly with British Airways from Copenhagen on the 1st of September at 10:55, and arrive in Narita Airport the 2nd, at 9:05.

Getting into Japan is also planned: I've applied for, and have received, a Working Holiday Visa, a visa that permits me to stay for up to a year from when I arrive. The visa allows me to both stay and work in Japan - the work I can take in Japan is meant to supply my travel funds.

Before I get a job, I'd like to see some of Japan, to travel around for a while. Please see the page "To see/to do" for more information on what I'm planning to see and to do.
Feel free to suggest more places that I should visit.

WWOOF

Once I'm done with that, I want to experience the Japanese culture, and what better way to do that, than to go to a small farm and take part in whatever work the do there? Fortunately, there's a program for that...
Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) provides a platform on which volunteers can contact farms that take part in this program, and plan a stay on one of these farms. There are currently 402 farms in the WWOOF program, spread all around Japan. Not all are in need of volunteers all the time, but there's a fair amount of interesting places that it is possible to go and work.
Since I would like to go someplace warm, I've limited my first choices to a place somewhere in the south of Japan. I've decided, that I would like to go to a farm on the island of Shikoku (map, Wikipedia). I've contacted one farm, but, unfortunately, they didn't need volunteers in September. I'm currently waiting for news from another farm on Shikoku. If this is not successful either, I'll probably go to a farm in the Nara province (map, Wikipedia).

And the plan after the farm(s)? Time will tell. I'll keep you posted...