CGN accepts interns who are interested in experiencing and in helping the activities of an NGO overseas.

CGN is a great place for internship for people who want to practice environmental education in a foreign country, those who want to learn about the life of indigenous people in mountainous regions, those who are thinking of landing a job in tourism and would want to organize a tour in the mountainous region, wanting to experience growing vegetables, or to those who want to run a guesthouse abroad or in the countryside in the future, or even if it's for their love for coffee, CGN is the right place. We take into account the dreams and abilities of each applicant. We offer a unique site of activity here. The basic duration is 3 months or more. Feel free to contact us for more information.

Meet some of our interns who have taken a journey with CGN.  We all draw on our experiences in the Philippines to connect with the Philippines in different stages of their lives.

Despite her sweet looks, she is a exceptional student at Ritsumeikan University's School of International Relations. After studying abroad in the U.S. for a short period of time, she suddenly decided that she wanted to spend her three months as an intern somewhere else. She had previously studied at an English language school in Baguio City, she loved the city and wanted to live here if given the chance. She has a great energy, has made friends with her teachers, and has steadily improved her English. In just three months, She managed to help in publishing the guesthouse operation manual, also including helping out in the planning and organization of four harvest tours.  She in now back in school and is applying for jobs in Japan. 

After taking a leave of absence from Kanazawa University to study abroad in Vietnam, she decided to stay as an intern in CGN for six months. She came from a science background which is unusual for a CGN intern. Alongside helping CGN, she also attended a language school to improve her English.  She has a strong core and is a hard worker who is willing to stay up all night to finish the work given to her. In her time of internship last 2019,  other interns in CGN interns included Yuya Takahashi who she says looks like someone who came from the past like  the Taisho era, and other past generations. The oldest intern, Tsuyoshi Tsuyoshi, a hardworking ex-nurse, and a talented young woman, Minori Kitagawa, who is only 20 years old. We have a wide range of unique short term and long term interns. She said that she has learned a lot living with these wonderful people for a period time at the Guest house TALA.

She was able to publish series of articles for Navi Manila, published by Manila newspaper. Works included her travel  experience to Abra and Manila by herself. Through her ups and downs in her experiences with CGN, she was able to successfuly plan, publicize, organize and report on the tree-planting tour. After returning to Japan, she returned to school and has been actively working as an intern for JICA Hokuriku.

He was an intern for 2018 - 2019. He visited Baguio on a trip to the Philippines while he was still a student at Tokyo University of Agriculture and decided to volunteered for a few days with CGN's activities. He wasn't sure what to do after graduation, but after studying abroad in the U.S he decided to become an intern with CGN in the Philippines.  He chose to stay in the Philippines for a whole year to immerse himself in the life of the mountain people of Luzon. He makes use of his photographic skills he has learned from his mentor to capture the people and culture of the mountainous region from his own perspective. In his stay, he was able to make great friends with he staff of a photo & video production company based in the neighboring town of Baguio.He also interacted with the Japanese artists who visited CGN and the community deep in the mountains with them. He gained valuable and unforgettable experience. 

CGN organized and hosted a study tour for members of the University of Aichi Prefectural University's Circle Raff in summer 2019 with the theme "Tracing Memories of World War II," and Takahashi led the participating students through careful research on the theme of World War II in northern Luzon.　

During his internship, he often published photos and articles in Navi Manila, an information magazine published by the Manila Newspaper. They gave him an opportunity for the December 2019 issue of the volume, "Memories Left Behind by Japanese Americans: Architectural Groups of Northern Luzon", he wrote a wonderful article and took some great photos that were the culmination of his one year stay. After returning to Japan, he has been based in Kanagawa Prefecture and has been working hard to become a photographer.  The wonderful photos he took in the mountainous region can be seen here.

2018 Intern. CGN was recommended by  Daigo Kato, a facilitator of the Overseas Business Training Program Musha Training in Vietnam. With this, she took a leave of absence from Kwansei Gakuin University to stay at CGN for nine months as an intern. With her cheerfulness, she has been actively involved in environmental education and coffee cultivation projects. They participated in all kinds of programs. During her stay in Baguio, she attended language school and worked hard to improve her language skills making her stay in Baguio very fruitful. Many of her friends came to Baguio to visit her during her stay.

On October 2018, many of the community suffered landslides and agricultural damage due to a typhoon that hit the Cordilleras. With this, a project called  "Seeds for Asu" was established. She used her wide range of network to collect donations to support farmers to help them be able to recover. Her work was featured in the Manila newspaper.

After graduating from university in 2020, she got employed by Amita Holdings, where she uses skills gained during her  stay at CGN to help protect the environment. 

 2017 Intern. While studying at Rikkyo University's Department of Exchange and Culture in the College of Tourism, she took a year off to become a CGN intern. In college, she was a member of the "PRC (Philippine Relationship Club) while being a member of a club they went to a village in Romblon province in the Philippines for about 3 weeks for homestay and afforestation camp during her first and second year of college. 

She met many kind and pleasant Filipinos in the village and was deeply attached to the Philippines. She then visited the CGN project site to fill the gap the camp wasn't able to provide which was to give back to the villagers by planting trees. With her stay with CGN, she then realized how little she knew about the Philippines, not only about tree planting but also about the country. Thus, making her want to learn more about the Philippines.

It was during her study tour and visit to Baguio that she met Kanami Yamamoto, a senior in college working as an intern at CGN. She was so impressed with Kanami Yamamoto's active work ethic that she decided to apply for an internship. She spent her first two months in the Philippines attending an English language school and working as an intern on weekends only. She is a certified calligraphy instructor, and during her internship, she was able to do calligraphy workshop several times at the guesthouse. She started her internship in earnest after graduating from English school. She had an exciting time at the guesthouse where she met many guests on a daily basis. She described her internship experience as, "The more I engaged with the Filipinos, the more I respected them"

2016 Intern. While studying at Rikkyo University's School of Tourism, she took a year off from school. At university, she was a member of an international exchange club called Asia Terakoya. She visited the Philippines together with the club. She experienced an annual three-week homestay in the province of Ifugao and in the province of Quirino. She got to know CGN by participating in a study tour conducted by CGN. It was not only a fun experience, but a profound one that turned her values upside down, it was unforgettable and she would love to share that experience with more people. With that she then decided to apply for an internship in CGN. After coming to Baguio, alongside being an intern, she also attended an english school to improve her language skills. She used to live in TALA Guest House where she met various guests on a daily basis.  After graduating from university, she has been working in the tourism industry targeting inbound visitors.

Ai Ikuta, who studied abroad in Australia for a year applied for an internship with CGN to make sure she was able to see with her own eyes what she learned in class about the current situation in developing countries. She visited and interviewed the families of students studying on the Cordillera Green Scholarship and indigenous people. Although her internship was only for three months, she was able to see learn a lot and see the great disparity of life in the mountains and in the United States. She has planned many international exchange programs while her stay at Guest House TALA. Her greatest lesson learned while her stay was to think and act on my own despite my repeated failures. She met some lifelong friends in Baguio City, where she actively interacted with a group of people who love Japanese culture.

On the last study tour of her internship, she was joined by his father, who runs a manjuu shop in the town in Japan. After returning to Japan, his father purchased coffee beans from the Sisam Studio and tried his hand at roasting them. Now that he's honed his skills, he's ready to make his own coffee at his new cafe, "O Coffee".

2016 Intern Atsuko Yamabe is a former co-op employee. After retiring, she studied at ARI and worked side-by-side with people in Asia and Africa on sustainable and organic farming on trying to din solutions on "How are we spreading the technology of organic farming in Asian countries? CGN accepts ARI graduates as interns every few years. With this, she came to the Philippines as an intern to experience CGN's work site first hand. During the internship period, many study tours were held, she then participated not only in the farm but also in theater workshops as an interpreter. After returning to Japan, she moved to Hiroshima, where she participated in the Peace Culture Village, and then moved to Okayama to live with her family in a rich agricultural environment. Living in practice everything she has learned. 

He studied at an English language school in Baguio City and spent a year as an exchange student at the University of Adelaide in Australia. After returning to Japan, he graduated from the Faculty of Human Environment at Hosei University. He tried to find a job in Singapore and other countries but failed to find a job overseas. He came back to Baguio to make a fresh start in life again. In 2015, CGN celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers' . He helped coordinate the commemorative film "Crossroads" since there was not enough Japanese and English translators at that time. For this reason, she joined the film crew as an interpreter and played a very active role. Later, as a CGN intern, he used his English skills to interpret for workshops and study tours.  He loved the Philippines so much that he wanted to live in the Northern Part of the country. That's when the non-profit organization that operates an agricultural business in Nueva Viscaya province in central Luzon, GLMi' was looking for staff members. With the experience of living in the Philippines and interning at CGN, he was successfully hired and became a field staff member.

She was CGN's first high school student volunteer. While she was still a student at Shimizu Higashi High School in Shizuoka Prefecture, she participated in the Shizuoka International Exchange Association (SIA) as a volunteer with the aim of working in international cooperation in the future. She went to talk to the company and was introduced to CGN. She convinced her parents to allow her to work part-time to save money and travel to the Philippines alone over spring break in 2015.  As a short-term intern, she focused on volunteering at an orphanage and other activities. After returning to Japan, she started a project to produce original Philippine coffee products, but with financial restriction as she was only a high school student at that time, she tried out international cooperation activities that even student are capable of. After that, she enrolled in Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Beppu, Kyushu, without any hesitation. She was able to experience a lot of have been enjoying and  living an active university life with the students at the University of California, Berkeley.

She graduated from Rikkyo University with a Bachelor of Arts. During her college days she belonged to a club called PRC, which had the main purpose of international exchange with the Philippines, she was a member that had experienced Cordillera Homestay in the mountainous region of Sagada. The warm, cheerful, and generous nature of the Filipino people completely fascinated her. She decided that she wanted to work for a year, she qualified as a Japanese language teacher and spent two years in Thailand as a Japanese language teacher for the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) in Trang. Later on, she served as an intern for CGN since June 2014. Her dream is to have a guest house somewhere in the world in the future. With this, she has been working in TALA for eight months. She kept busy with her internship stay with CGN. After returning to Japan, she traveled around looking for a place to move to and settled in Manazuru, Kanagawa Prefecture, with her partner. She started a small publishing company called "Publishing" and a dream guesthouse is currently on operation.

He was an intern for the second half of 2013, and a trainee from CGN's longtime partner organization. After graduating from Keio University, he found a job at a management consulting firm, but took a leave of absence due to the effect brought by the Lehman shock. In search of a new world, he went to Australia to study english study and for a working holiday. He experienced a variety of jobs in restaurants, farms, and wineries. After he the returned to Japan with exceptional improvement in English. In search of a job that would allow him to use his english skills, he went to  Keeper's Association in Kiyosato, his hometown, and joined the International Relations Department. During the winter months when Kiyosato is closed due to snow, his boss pushed him to "go see the overseas sites" this was what brought me to become an intern in CGN. With his positive attitude to talk to everyone without fear, his energy to try anything, and his english skills, he has been of great help to CGN. He has been hired as a full-time staff member of the KEEP Association since April 2014. Coordinating with Mr. Murata, the Keeper's Association accepts two training staff from CGN every year. 

Intern in the first half of 2013. She took a leave of absence from the Tsuru University of Education to become an intern. She was deeply interested in both the environment and theater. She has studied theater for two and a half years at the Furano School. A student of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum art communicators "Tobira". She is from a leek farm in Kochi. When she came to Baguio, she found out that Kochi and Benguet Province are sivery much alike. Encountering a number of young people who have gone (or will go) to train on the leek farm, she realize how small the world is. She is a great lover of not only theater but also art. She then went to the United States to explore ways to change the world and lives through art. While living in TALA, where the office is located, juggling both doing various of chores and studying, she still showed her artistic talents in producing wonderful flyers for tours and workshops. After returning to Japan, she has been working for a general company and is now active in a new stage of her career.

 Yuki Yamamoto worked as an intern for eight months in 2007. He worked for nearly 10 years as the secretary-general of the NPO "Tohoku Ashita no Mori" to raise funds for the NPO. where he learned the art of roasting and selling fair trade coffee. With the cessation of work in 2017, he moved his base of operations to Cafeslaw in Kokubunji. As the manager of the café, he plans events and brings people together to do things for the planet. 

In 2008, Kotomi Matsunoshita took a year's leave of absence from the University of Shizuoka, and stayed for eight months in the Philippines. An exhibition "Future Projection" was held in various places. She has been working freelance as a staff member in support of green politicians and as a sales representative for local vegetables in Taiwan. While working on the project, she founded the "SOMA Project," an environmental group that uses wood from Shizuoka's forest thinning to protect the forest.

http://soma-pj.com/cn2/somaproject.html

After that, she went for an interview at a temp agency specializing in overseas employment with the aim of finding a job overseas. She changed the theme of her life's work from "environment" to "work" to create a network between Asia and Japan. 

2012 Intern. Manager and producer of AManTo Natural Arts Institute, a mini-theater in Nakazaki-cho, Osaka. While working as an actor and singer, he has also performed on many stages as a freelance actor and singer. When he got married, he decided to move to the countryside. But before that, he chose to study English in Baguio. He decided to take the opportunity to stay for a long time to experience more than just learning english.  He invited his wife to come to Baguio to study english as well. He ran for CGN internship while he was also still in school. His working experience in Japan provided great support for CGN activities. He has now moved to Mukaishima, Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, where he has started a new life. He supports our activities as CGN Japan Secretary General while raising their children. He revisited Baguio in 2018 as an art facilitator.

Ayaka Yamashita arrived as an intern during the summer of 2010, and later on, she was assigned to a graduate school master's thesis research in small-scale mining areas in the Cordillera region. She spent her days immersed in the charm of the  Cordillera. She finally made use of the Kalinga indigenous bamboo workmanship skills of the Founder of Duo EDAYA, an accessory and other brand unit, and representative of women entrepreneurs abroad. She travels back and forth between Japan and the Philippines as an active member of the "Nadeshiko VOICE" women's movement.