[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.

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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

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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

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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

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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]

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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?

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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