This is a day in the life of a Japanese Mechanic
[Music]
This is Yuta, 25 yrs old. Living in Chiba, part of the Greater Tokyo area
And he is just waking up for work
He lives alone in this one LDK apartment and if you haven't noticed, he loves his animes
Often visiting Akihabara when he's not working
Anime is such a popular hobby for Japanese adults under 30.
It's currently the only growing entertainment category catching up to the top two, variety shows and movies.
This is what you usually eat for breakfast.
[Music]
Wow, he sure loves his milk tea.
How long does it usually take you to get ready.
[Music]
Unlike the 40 million train commuters in the Greater Tokyo area, Yuta drives a 30-minute commute to work every morning.
So Yuta works as a Seibishi, in English (Mechanic)
He attended a specialized four-year professional school of Saitama Automotive University.
Earning a degree in car mechanics.
He was hired straight after graduation. Common in japan.
As 91% of vocational school graduates secure a job and currently in his third year as a Mechanic
Good morning y'all. I'm back with another day in the life.
Super excited for this one. Just a little bit different than the usual.
But it should be awesome regardless.
Yuta should be coming down the stairs right now let's see how he's doing this morning
Good morning.
did you sleep well last night
so youtube works as a mechanic at isuzu
motors one of the oldest automobile
manufacturers in japan since 1916. these
days they're best known for their
commercial vehicles like trucks and
buses but interestingly the company
itself started off as a department
within a shipbuilding company which over
many years transformed in the company we
know today with more than 36 thousand
employees and crowned the number one
truck seller in japan
before clocking in youtube is required
to check his temperature as well as do a
breathalyzer as he'll be driving trucks
today
[Music]
wow that's a lot of uniforms are these
all yours
at his company it's important that all
their employees present a clean
appearance despite working in a garage
so they employ a cleaning vendor to wash
their uniforms every day
[Music]
before the day starts all the staff
gather for rajo taiso meaning radio
exercise a typical japanese calisthenics
guided by music one of the oldest
customs in a japanese workplace still
practice today
every morning the staff have a zentai chorei
a traditional japanese all company
morning meeting to discuss news and
announcements followed by a recitation
of the company's philosophy and behavior
guidelines
and shortly after that Yuta breaks
out with the mechanics for a separate
meeting to discuss their assigned tasks
for today
where you going now
first he performs facility maintenance a
5s group activity common in japanese
companies designed to help build a
strong work ethic as well as healthy
working environment 5s meaning organized
order cleanliness standardized and
disciplined what are you exactly looking
at
what's this room
it's a critical part of a mechanic's job
to record and detail all work performed
as it's even used for government records
also the room serves as a dispatcher's
office where the mechanics get assigned
tasks as they come in throughout the
day to start his first job he brings
along his rolling tool chest in japanese
it's called a caddy
look at all these trucks apparently more
than 70 trucks are maintained repaired
and inspected by about 30 on duty
mechanics every day
nice, he's gonna work on his first truck
yuta's first job is to perform shotgun a
vehicle safety inspection required by
japanese law usually every two years to
ensure vehicles are properly maintained
and safe to drive on public roads
interestingly trucks larger than a mini
k-class truck are required to be
inspected every year vehicle inspections
in japan are one of the most stringent
and expensive in the world requiring a
60 part inspection including diagnostics
the base fee starts at about five
hundred dollars going upwards to two
thousand dollars for larger vehicles how
long does it take to perform a shotgun
inspection for a trucker
[Music]
he always loved cars since he was young
he used to even race his own car a supra
in the mountains but got into an
accident while drifting and decided it
wasn't for him which allowed him even
more time to focus on his true passion
working on oversized trucks
What's that?
wow he really knows his stuff in japan
in Japan to become a certified mechanic
candidates must pass one of three
nationwide exams car mechanic graduates
are able to skip to the rank 2 exam
while rank 1 exams are reserved for only
rank 2 mechanics with years of
experience so for now
2 mechanic working hard every day to
gain more experience
are you almost done
as part of the japanese shotgun
inspection vehicles undergo a visual
inspection and will immediately fail if
it's far behind the manufacturer's set
conditions and is the main reason why in
japan cars on the road are for the most
part always in great condition so it
looks like heath is going to be doing
this for a little bit so while he's
doing this why don't we take a break and
check this place out
[Music]
so one of the things that i've always
wondered is what's in a mechanics caddy
let's see wow so many cool tools
electrical tape calipers a cutter extra
light bulb a set of wrenches a box of
face masks some adhesive spray cans and
some screwdrivers this place is just so
big you can see behind me there's 10 to
12 maybe even 13 parking spots it's
crazy
oh wow look at this room it's completely
different than the other ones let's see
what this guy is doing
excuse me can i
ask what you're doing
at this garage they have a dedicated
paint room and this is their storage
area where they keep the paint stock
required to fix and repair any truck
damage the paint room itself has a
specialized ventilation system built
into the floor which quickly removes any
excess paint or dust in the air have you
painted custom colors before
i like it an oversized truck with bling
Oh wow there's a huge truck over there, lets see what they're doing.
Excuse me what are you here for?
[Speaking Japanese]
Oh, it seems like the truck is in a dire for repair.
[Speaking Japanese]
Now the front desk contacts the
dispatcher to arrange a mechanic.
Oh, I wonder what this guy is doing.
Excuse me can i ask what you're doing?
[Speaking Japanese]
How many did you watch a day?
[Speaking Japanese]
How long have you been with the company?
[Speaking Japanese]
Congratulations!
[Speaking Japanese]
[Truck backing up]
[Music]
Okay he's finished with the truck,
as part of any inspection or maintenance
trucks must be cleaned before the return
to the customer which is also the
responsibility of the mechanic.
When he's done with an assignment,
he creates a report and logs it into the
database, and he also uploads pictures of
the maintenance performed for customer records.
Oh no, it started to rain!
[Speaking Japanese]
How are you going to get to the truck?
[Speaking Japanese]
Now to the next truck.
Wow that's a humongous tire!
Yuta says that since he often works on larger
vehicles many of the parts and tools are
also large and heavy so it's critical
that mechanics at his garage are always
cognizant of their surroundings as a
simple accident like dropping apart or
getting fingers caught would easily
result in severe injury.
Are you done?
[Speaking Japanese]
Finally, lunchtime!
He usually picks up
food from the vending machine and eats
it in the break room with his co-workers
Did you bring that bento?
[Speaking Japanese]
Oh, is it free?
[Speaking Japanese]
How is it?
It's common for traditional Japanese
companies to offer their employees
reasonably priced bento lunch boxes
every day for work usually about two to
three dollars per day so the staff can
save on costs as well as time
he has some time before his work starts
again so he usually takes advantage of
this time with a short nap in the tatami
room
good morning
have a good nap?
[Music]
after lunch
Yuta has a midday meeting called Churei
in this meeting he gets assigned new tests
for the afternoon
what are you doing now?
[Music]
oh that's his next truck i think it's
bigger than my tokyo apartment
and this time they're using one of the
two floor lifts in the garage. Yuta says
that it's a little bit easier to go
underneath a giant truck than it is to
hoist one in the air. It seems like this
truck is having maintenance but this
time he's working with four other
mechanics on the job depending on the
size of the truck and the amount of work
dispatchers assign multiple mechanics to
complete the job
what's that?
how much oil do you use?
Yuta says that the garage boss is a strong
senpai kohai or senior junior
relationship where he's able to easily
draw on the experience of his seniors
helping him to quickly build his own skills.
What's that ?
Nice reminder! In japan trucks are
scheduled regular checkups every three months
What are you doing now?
What's that?
This is one of the many vehicles that
won't pass a shaken inspection simply
due to normal wear and tire which is
almost expected. So it requires
additional repairs and maintenance work
to meet japan's strict road
safety standarts
Obviously, it's gonna cost more money and is one of the reasons why
many japanese would rather buy a new car
than to bear the cost of maintaining an
older one after several years
Oh! This is where all the parts are stored.
Apparently the company is known
for always having parts on stock despite
having such a wide catalog of products
Even if the part is unavailable at this garage,
Any part thinkable can be same day shipped nationwide
What do you like about being a mechanic?
What's the most difficult part of your job?
So, it looks like Yuta go to be greasing up the tires just a little bit longer
so while he's doing that let's go explore the place!
This is so crazy seeing all of these trucks in the air.
I've never seen it before
You have a dump truck and then
right there you have a long bed truck
all hoisted up
So this is what it's like on the
basement floor and just underneath all of the trucks
Oh, that's a truck Yuta was working on earlier
So this garage is a final inspection area,
where they check the cars before they send them out
Hi, what are you doing?
In this final inspection,
staff review all the items that were performed during
the shaken inspection or regular maintenance.
Plus, perform several diagnostics required by japanese safety standarf laws.
What does this do?
check the brightness
[Music]
huh i wonder what's in this gray little
shelter over here
Oh, wow! This is the engine stop room.
Just in case a truck needs an entire engine replacement.
Hi, what are you guys doing?
Oh, this mirror is wrecked so sometimes they need to take things apart for repair.
"Bankin" means bodywork in english
The garage have dedicated workers responsible for bodywork and paint,
since a special licenses is required to perform this work.
Are you almost done?
Yuta, where are you going?
He doesn't only work on trucks,
but as a mechanic, he's also responsible for interfacing with customers to share service information about their trucks.
Apparently, Yuta participated in a customer service training course
His first month working at the company to ensure all customers
receive a high level service each and every time.
At the end of the day, the team is responsible for cleaning up the facility, as they don't hire outside cleaning services.
Now, all the mechanics gathered for shurei, the final day's meeting.
At this time each mechanic is assigned jobs,
But unlike most overtime, this overtime has a set finishing schedule
And it seems that yuta has accepted an extra hour of work
Oh, it looks like he's finishing up!
So in a traditional japanese company,
it's customary for Yuta to seeks out his superiors and greet them when he finishes as a sign of respect,
especially since he's leaving before them
and despite the formalities, he's still able to finish overtime a little bit early
So he has the rest of the evening ahead of him
"Thank you for a good job"
Tonight for dinner, he's having leftover curry from the day before
as he doesn't like food to go to waste
Oh, cool! He uses car air fresheners even in his house!
I was wondering why his room smelled like a new car
Before COVID, he often hung out with friends and co-workers after work
But nowadays, he tries to stay home and read his manga
What are you reading?
So, it looks like Yuta just gonna continue reading his manga
and then probably go to bed at around 12 o'clock or midnight
But that's pretty much a day in the life of a japanese mechanic.
Let me know what you guys thought in the comments
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