Participation Terms

The terms of your stay

Last updated: 26 October 2026.

These terms are the agreement between you and NINGEI Inc. (“NINGEI”, “we”) for the Japan Local Program (“the program”). They apply once your place is confirmed by payment. Please read them before you apply.

1. What the program is

The program is a community-based learning program in Hirota, Rikuzentakata, Iwate: closer to studying abroad, with a town instead of a school. You live as a resident and take part in local life and projects, with a coordinator who supports your plans, and a weekly reflection. There is no fixed timetable; activities change with the season and with what you choose.

It is not work. Activities are unpaid. You do not receive a wage, you do not fill anyone’s job, and NINGEI does not find you a job or place you with an employer. Local people guide you; you are not part of their workforce. Do not accept payment for anything you do during the program.

The program is run by NINGEI. Certified NPO SET is our community partner.

2. Dates and fees

Dates for Autumn 2027 and Spring 2028 will be set later. The fee in Japanese yen is the price and includes 10% Japanese consumption tax. Euro and dollar amounts shown on our website are a guide only.

Applying with a friend. If two people apply together for the same term, each of you pays 10% less: ¥360,000 for 1 month or ¥612,000 for 2 months (including tax). Write your friend’s name in your application. The price for each of you is confirmed in the written terms sent with your invoice. If one of you later cancels, the other keeps the discounted price.

The program fee includes: a coordinator who supports your plans each week, introductions to local people and projects, pre-departure online orientation, weekly reflection and one-to-one mentoring, groceries for the shared cooking, welcome and farewell gatherings, a certificate of participation, daily-life support and a 24-hour emergency contact.

The program fee does not include: accommodation, international flights, travel to and from Rikuzentakata and around the area, insurance, visa costs, bank charges, personal spending and optional activities you choose yourself.

3. Applying and confirming your place

• An application is not a booking.
• After you apply, we email you the written terms for your term and an invoice with our bank details.
• Your place is confirmed when we receive your first payment (40% of the program fee). We then confirm by email. The rest is paid later, as set out in section 5.
• We do not select applicants. Everyone who meets the conditions in section 4 can take part. Places are limited, so they are confirmed in the order payments arrive.
• If a group is full before your payment arrives, we tell you and offer a place in the next term. If you do not want that, we refund your payment in full.
• For Autumn 2027 and Spring 2028, an application registers your interest. We send the written terms and invoice once dates are set.

4. Conditions for taking part

• You must be 18 or older on the first day of the program.
• You are responsible for holding a visa or status of residence that allows your stay and the activities. NINGEI does not provide or guarantee a visa. What is allowed depends on your status, so check with the Japanese embassy or consulate in your country.
• You must have travel and medical insurance that covers your whole stay and the activities, and send us proof of it before the program starts.

If you do not meet these conditions by the start date, you cannot take part. This counts as a cancellation by you under section 6.

5. Payment

The fee is invoiced and paid in Japanese yen, in two payments.

• First payment: within 14 days of the invoice date. It includes the ¥50,000 confirmation fee (section 6).
• Balance: no later than 30 days before the first day of the program. For Spring 2027 that is 13 March 2027 for Group A and the two-month course, and 17 April 2027 for Group B. We send you an invoice for the balance about two weeks before it is due.
• If we invoice you less than 45 days before the start, you pay the whole fee in one payment by the date on the invoice.
• Please pay with Wise or a similar service that pays yen into a Japanese bank account. Our account cannot receive international bank transfers (SWIFT), so a transfer sent that way will not reach us.
• You pay all fees for sending each payment, so that the full invoiced amount reaches us. If the amount received is short, we ask you to pay the difference.
• If we do not receive the first payment within 14 days, your application lapses and the place is released. You can apply again if places remain.
• If we do not receive the balance by its due date, your place is released. This counts as a cancellation by you on that date (section 6).

6. Cancellation

14 days to change your mind. If you cancel within 14 days of the day we confirm your place, we refund everything you have paid, including the confirmation fee. This does not apply if your place is confirmed less than 31 days before the start.

If you cancel later. Tell us by email at [email protected]. The date we receive your email counts. ¥50,000 of the program fee is a confirmation fee: it secures your place and covers our preparation, and after those 14 days it is not refunded. We refund the rest of the program fee as follows, counted back from the first day of the program:

If you have not paid the balance yet. You do not pay it. We keep the confirmation fee and the part of the rest of the fee that the table above does not refund, and we refund the remainder of what you have paid.

Bank charges for the refund and non-refundable costs you have already approved may be deducted. We work out every refund in Japanese yen and send it within 30 days of your cancellation, by international transfer from NINGEI’s Wise Business account or a similar service. If you receive it in another currency, it is converted at the exchange rate on the day we send it, so the amount you receive may differ slightly from the yen amount.

If NINGEI cancels. If we cancel the program before it starts, for any reason, we refund everything you have paid, including the confirmation fee.

If the program has to stop early. If we have to end the program after it has started for reasons outside your control, such as a natural disaster or a safety risk, we refund the program fee for the days not delivered, counted pro rata.

Travel and accommodation you booked yourself are not covered by these refunds. We recommend insurance that covers cancellation.

7. Accommodation and travel

Accommodation is not part of the program. A shared room in a local house is usually available for about ¥30,000 a month, subject to availability. NINGEI can introduce the host. If you take the room, you rent it under a separate agreement directly with the host and pay the host, not NINGEI. You may also arrange your own accommodation.

You book and pay for your own flights and travel. On request, NINGEI can introduce a licensed travel agency; you contract with it directly. NINGEI does not sell travel or accommodation and is not a party to those agreements.

8. Photos, names and words

We would like to share the program with others. By taking part, you agree that NINGEI may use photos and videos of you, your first name and country, and things you say or write about the program, in the program’s communications. These include our website, Instagram and other social media, and materials for partner organisations. We do not sell them or use them to advertise other companies.

You can say no at any time. Tell us before or during the program, or later by email at [email protected]. We will stop using them in new material and remove them from our own website and accounts within 30 days. We cannot recall material that was already printed or shared by others. Saying no does not affect your place or your fee.

9. Living in the town

You agree to:

• respect local people, their homes and work, and the way things are done in the town;
• follow the safety instructions of NINGEI and local hosts;
• ask before you photograph or post about local people, and respect their answer;
• follow Japanese law. The legal age for alcohol and smoking in Japan is 20. Illegal drugs are not tolerated;
• tell your coordinator if you will be away overnight, or if you feel unwell or unsafe.

If you seriously or repeatedly break these rules, or put yourself or others at risk, we may end your participation after talking with you. In that case the program fee is not refunded.

10. Leaving early

You can leave the program at any time. Please tell your coordinator first so we know you are safe. Leaving after the start is not refunded (section 6), except where we end the program early as described there.

11. Health and emergencies

• You have a 24-hour emergency contact for the whole stay. We give you the number before you arrive.
• Before the program, tell us about any health condition or allergy we need to know to keep you safe, and give us an emergency contact.
• In an emergency, we help you get to medical care and contact your emergency contact. Medical and other costs are paid by you or your insurance.

12. Responsibility

NINGEI is responsible for damage caused by its own fault in running the program. NINGEI is not responsible for loss caused by your own actions, by accommodation, travel or other services you contract with others, or by events outside our reasonable control, such as natural disasters.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. Law

These terms are governed by the laws of Japan. This does not take away any more favourable right you have under the mandatory consumer protection law of the country where you live.

14. Changes and contact

We may update these terms for future terms of the program. The version sent to you with your invoice applies to your stay.

NINGEI Inc. · 83-4 Akazakakadochi, Hirota-cho, Rikuzentakata, Iwate 029-2208, Japan · Representative: Shota Okada · [email protected]