Kyushu long-term stay, volunteer activities

Hi. My wife and I live in Japan, and we're interested in possibly traveling to Kyushu and staying somewhere near Kumamoto or Kagoshima for about a week during the coming winter vacation, probably in late December. Also, in a few years when we retire, we hope to spend the cold season (perhaps November-February) each year in Kyushu and get involved in local activities, such as volunteering. On this year's week-long visit, we'd especially like to meet people there, both Japanese and foreign, to learn a lot about the area and explore future possibilities.

Is anyone aware of organizations or groups in the those areas that arrange volunteer activities?

And does anyone know of alternate accommodations to the typical tourist & business hotel/ryokan?

What kind of volunteer activities are you thinking of? Disaster relief (going on in Kumamoto and other parts affected by the flooding) comes to mind for example.

If you speak/read the Japanese language, you can go directly to the Social Welfare COuncil of the city you are interested in, and see what they might need. If not, you'd need to work through organizations that put together both Japanese-speaking and English-speaking volunteers (on a limited time basis though) such as Peace Boat, which did a fabulous work in disaster relief after the Great East Japan Earthquake.