Hey.
The best scheme that I found was the WWOOF scheme. I used it when I went travelling in Japan and managed to get an extra 6 weeks worth of travelling for free.
It stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. The idea is, you work on these farms for free and they provide you with accommodation and food. Also, the hosts that you stay with usually treat you really well and treat you to nights out, onsen trips, etc. It is an amazing experience and a fantastic chance to live with a real Japanese family and live like a local.
They have hundreds of different farms around Japan, I worked for a family in Tokyo for two weeks helping renovate a house and doing gardening work, another two weeks in a small town near Kyoto working in rice fields and picking soya beans and a final two weeks on an island near Hiroshima making jam, harvesting oranges and planting blueberry plants. I worked on these farms while travelling around Japan and would not have been able to stay for as long as I did if I was paying for accommodation/food for those six weeks.
I can't express just what a great experience I had working on these farms and I would totally recommend everyone having a go.
Check out the link and have a look yourself.
WWOOF Japan
P.S. Would love to go with you but have no money!!
