Field Trip: Toono Magokoro Net

What am I doing reviewing Magokoro Net?

Let's get this straight: I love HANDS and I think we are awesome. I'd love for you to participate with us. If you come on the weekends, you can totally participate with us! If it's not on the weekends, you still might be able to participate if we can find you a driver! But depending on the length of time you're here, or the dates, we might not be able to take you.

Therefore, I am reviewing other volunteering opportunities, with way too much detail, to give you the (probably) foreign volunteer enough information to participate comfortably with other NPOs! So, with that explained...Toono Magokoro Net in Iwate!

Stuff you need

You should be checking out the website to make sure you have everything you need, but off the top of my head: you definitely need volunteer insurance, a signed consent form, clothes to get dirty, boots with protective insoles, a warm (warm!) sleeping bag, various usual toiletry items and stuff if you're staying over, plus food. There are shops in the area but no convenience stores nearby opening early, I think, so for the first day you need to buy breakfast and lunch the night before.

Basically, just go to an outdoor store. You can get most of that stuff there. Please don't go unprepared. It is a pain.

The week before.

At first I was planning on staying overnight at Magokoro, but then I noticed that registration for people arriving the day was at 4:30 pm. Since I had work until about 7, I couldn’t make it in time. Therefore, the only other option was staying someplace else and showing up for morning registration at 6:30.

Fortunately, I`d already stayed at a nice little minshuku called Minshuku Rindou a few months before. I don`t know if the owner speaks English, I`d assume not, but he`s a very chill person and the rooms are nice and comfortable. It`s only 3500 yen a night without meals, plus you can take a dip in the onsen bath downstairs anytime you like before about 8 in the morning. Definitely, definitely a very relaxing pre or post volunteer stay.

5:30: Waiting for registration

Up at about 5:30, I took one last dip in the nice Rindou bath and made my way to the center.

See map to the center here

Magokoro Net is at the end of a road that really doesn`t look like something worthwhile is at the end, but don`t worry. If you see this sign (picture) you`re headed in the right direction. Follow the arrow.

Once you get to the nice gate thing, turn left. Don`t enter that central building there that looks like it`s important, just go arrrrounnnd the building until you find a smaller brown structure.

At left, you can see the smoker`s exile area. The actual entrance is in in the middle.

I went inside and waited until 6:30. I was kind of feeling awkward lugging around my bag everywhere, but later I found out I could just put my bag in the women`s dorm room. You can do that too. Just don`t leave your valuables in the bag, just in case.

By the way, before 6:30, I had spotted about two other foreigners, and an older man had come up to me asking if I understood Japanese in English. Not a bad sign for those of you wanting to come with less Japanese.

6:30: Registration

At 6:30, the new volunteers went inside and one of the leaders, who looked pretty busy, attended to us. He checked our volunteer cards, took our waiver forms, and checked a form of ID. Then he passed out an information packet, but unfortunately the packet was in Japanese.

Later, I found out there`s an English equivalent, but it doesn`t look like they pass it out much. I`d recommend either asking for an English one when you get there, or printing out information from the English Magokoro website and bringing it with you. The most important thing was the schedule, which is as follows as of March 22nd:

6:00　Wake up alarm (for those staying in center)

6:30 Registration (for those coming in the morning. Those coming the day before register at 4:30 pm.)

7:20　Gather outside, do warm up exercises, informational speeches from leaders about 8:00 Leave for worksites in buses.

about 10:00　Begin volunteer work.

12:00〜13:00 Lunch (bring your own lunch).

about 15:00 Finish volunteer work.

about 16:00 Return to Toono.

17:30　Meeting for reflecting on day’s activities.

18:00　Free time

22:00　Lights out

Anyway, he then passed out our volunteer name badges, we wrote down the date and our name, and then we had time to explore the place until about 7:20.

I noticed toasters, a microwave, bathrooms, sinks for people to wash their faces, washing machines, and a free wireless password posted below the Japanese flag and above a board full of work requests.

The work requests themselves are interesting. In general, a volunteer can choose between “hard” (physical) work like picking up rubble and “soft” work like doing coffee salons or talking to people. Volunteers can also choose what location to go to. When I went, we could choose between Kamaishi and Ootsuchi.

On top of that, it looks like Magokoro Net itself is taking work requests, and putting out its own work requests. When I went, the following jobs were out: giving foot baths and holding a coffee circle in Rikuzentakata, helping another nonprofit build a kind of shed?, something to do with a Sumo contest, building showers at Magokoro Net (right now only public baths in the area available), and etcetera.

These weren`t all for the same day. Some were one day only, some were ongoing, and some were already filled up with names and nobody else could sign up. Still, the number of choices were intriguing. If you want variety, variety is definitely available here.

7:20: Warm-up and speeches, Crested Kingfisher

Radio Taisou, a traditional Japanese radio program for warming up the body and stretching a little. We warmed up to a recording of the program.

Then the leaders came up and gave some informational speeches. What jobs were going to be done that day, plus a reminder to please bring boots and safety insoles. During the boot speech, I saw a Crested Kingfisher. This is going to have significance to approximately 0% of you, but I do not care. It gets included. I also heard a Blue Rockthrush.

Crested Kingfisher!!! I love you!

Anyway, so then we got into lines. The guy with the microphone first asked all the volunteers who had registered as groups to come aside and line up. Then, he asked the rest of us to split up into two groups, but I didn`t hear what the two groups meant.

This was the most confusing part of the day. We split into two groups, and then each group split into a couple of lines. I found myself in the left side, lined up, but didn`t know what my line meant. When I finally caved and asked somebody, she told me I was in one of the “soft” work lines, as opposed to the “hard” physical labor ones.

NOOOOO I am not ソフト, I am ハード!

I quickly got into the right line.

They then split the hard groups into two more groups, one group going to Kamaishi and another going to Ootsuchi. I chose Ootsuchi, because I`d never been there before. The Ootsuchi leader pointed us to the correct buses, told each of us to pick up one of the nice Magokoro Net vests that we`d wear all day, and onto the buses we went.

I`d say it took about an hour or so to get to Ootsuchi. On the way, we stopped at Kamaishi for a rest stop. The bus driver said that they’d leave as soon as everybody was back, but on a later stop he gave a specific time. I would ask for a time or stick with a group to make sure you’re not late back to the bus.

10:00: Arrive in Ootsuchi and start work

So: arrived in Ootsuchi. I was surprised to see that most of the buildings had been reduced to foundations in the area we were working. One of the leaders explained that, unlike the cities I was used to working in, Ootsuchi had burned. The area had still needed a lot of cleanup, but the houses had started as mostly just burnt frames of buildings.

Leader split us up into to smaller teams and gave each team a pretty arbitrary leader. The guy who was my group’s leader, for example, had no experience. This was his first day. Another guy in our group who was really tan and kind of anti-social seeming was Mr. Veteran San, who had worked on the same site the day before. You might wonder, “why did the site leader make the inexperienced guy the leader?” but I think it’s just because he didn’t have enough time. The guy was in charge of a LOT of people.

So the usual: we gathered tools, walked over to the work site, and began cleaning rubble from the foundation of a building. It was usual volunteer work, and the usual tips apply.

Don’t be afraid of using whatever tools you want, you don’t need anybody’s permission. Just don’t leave them there on the ground in a weird spot so somebody can trip on them, or where you could lose them. If you don’t know what to do, ask somebody who looks like they know what they’re doing or look at what other people around you are doing.

If they say there’s a break, you take a break.

12-1: Lunch

We had lunch outside or in the buses, whichever people preferred. Only, don’t tromp inside those buses with your boots on. The site leader told us to change into our regular shoes so the bus wouldn’t get dirty.

I’d brought some really cheesy store-bought peanut butter sandwiches, but there had been an opportunity to order okonomiyaki in the morning, so I had a half okonomiyaki and the sandwiches to boot. There’ll probably be an opportunity to get extra food in the area and help the economy, but I wouldn’t bank on it.

1-3: More volunteering

More of the same. We switched to another foundation with more rubble in it and began cleaning.

The site leader did come to us during one of the breaks and tell us about what had happened to the area. He said that a lot of people had died in this particular neighborhood, but since it was such a small area he hadn’t known until he talked to a nearby store owner. He recommended talking to the store owner if we had a chance. The jobs we were doing, he added later, could only be done by hand. Heavy machinery had come in to take care of the big chunks of buildings, but completely cleaning the area required human volunteers.

He gave longer speeches than I was used to hearing during volunteering, but it was all important information that the volunteers would bring back to their communities. Most folks were from Tokyo, which seems really disconnected from Tohoku’s situation nowadays. This was Magokoro Net’s opportunity to educate about what had gone on in the area.

So the usual wrap-up: everyone is like “It’s time to finish!” and of course you don’t want to stop. Bring tools to storage area, clean tools, put tools back, and get on bus to return to Toono.

3:00: Start back to Toono

Rest/shopping break at a complex of temporary shops in Ootsuchi. I was really happy with just this bit. A big organization like this has the power to move busloads of people to places where they can spend money to help local communities. 15 minutes or so can make a big difference.

I only bought a cup of coffee, but I saw people buying bags of cookies as souvenirs, doing their grocery shopping, or having a nice post-volunteer yakitori chowdown.

5:30: Post-volunteer meeting and reflection

After we drove back and arrived at about four, there was a rest period where you could mess with your luggage or check your email. Then, everyone cleaned the building a little bit, and gathered in the men’s sleeping area to have a post-volunteer meeting.

I think if you have time, it’s polite to help clean the building and attend the post-volunteer meeting, but if you need to catch a train, it’s OK to leave after you arrive at Magokoro Net. They had interested things to say at the meeting, but most of it was relevant for people who were going to continue volunteering the next day.

Overall impression:

Of course, I love HANDS and I prefer working with them, but I still had a really positive experience participating with Magokoro Net. You might not get to know staff members very well, as they all seemed really busy, but riding the bus and going to worksites offers a lot of opportunity to get to know different people. I’d imagine you’d become even better friends with folks if you stayed the night and participated for a longer time.

The variety of activities offered were also a big plus. This was the first time I could choose whether I wanted to volunteer physically or not and what places I wanted to go to.

The work that Magokoro Net does, at least the physical work I was doing, was for Ootsuchi Volunteer Center. The volunteer centers are run by the local welfare councils, which work by taking work requests from people in the region and then matching groups of volunteers with those requests.

So you can at least be sure that the work you are doing has been requested by someone from the area and is therefore important.

Possible downsides:

Yeah, it’s larger, it can get a little crowded, but I thought it was kind of fun that way. There are plenty of hotels around if you find you absolutely can’t stand it.

The room people sleep can get cold at night, especially because they turn the stove off later at night, so bring a good sleeping bag and dress warm. This will probably become less of an issue in the spring…

There are speeches, but as I said before, it’s mostly Magokoro Net educating people about the region and situation. I learned a lot myself.

I heard one report that a volunteer wasn’t satisfied with the kind of work they did with Magokoro Net, but I think that is less a problem with the organization itself than the participant’s expectations about volunteering and lack of flexibility. If the work you do really isn’t a good fit, at least Magokoro Net has opportunities for things that can be more fulfilling.