Day in the Life of a Japanese Home Builder

This is a day in the life of a Japanese homebuilder [Intro Music Playing] [ Mobile alarm goes off ] This is Yuya 25 years old living in Tokyo and he's just waking up for work he lives in this 1k apartment which is about 25 square meters just around the average for a single residence Tokyo apartment 27.4 square meters or about 295 square feet although becoming less common these days in Japan his apartment rent is partially covered by his company a system called Jutaku Teate House Allowance The average housing allowance in Japan being about $150 per month That said It does help that his company constructed the apartment building he is living in Do you always eat breakfast ? How long does it take you to get ready ? Yuya works as a home construction site manager graduating from a four-year university focused in architecture In fact he's been interested in architecture since he was in elementary school so much so that he wrote it in his yearbook [ Speaks Japanese ] Yuya's apartment is relatively far from the train station by Tokyo standards so he usually takes a bus first to get to the train station and then rides a train to work so this morning instead of going to the office he commutes directly to the construction site which is often the case and why it's commute times varies depending on the project Good Morning everyone !! I'm back with another day in the life and today we are building a house Yuya should be coming on the next train let's see how he's doing this morning Good Morning !! How do you sleep last night ? Yuya works at Daiwa House one of the top home builders in Japan building 7000 homes each year with a total of about 17000 employees throughout Japan What's that ? KY stands for Kiken Yochi Danger & Foresight This form is commonly used on Japanese construction work sites to help prevent human errors like miscommunication or over exhaustion as well as to promote a healthy and safe working environment Oh it seems like more of the construction workers are arriving on site They're all required to check in via facial recognition as well as to take their body temperature to verify that they're healthy enough to work Now that all the workers have arrived it's time for chore, their daily morning meeting Like many other traditional Japanese companies the construction workers also have morning exercises called Radio Taiso to warm up and prevent injury before their physical work day ahead a little different than many companies though is that this meeting is connected to the headquarters as well as other construction sites so the Daiwa workers can exercise at the same time all throughout Japan as a part of the meeting workers recite the company's philosophy then they silently close their eyes and think about their family and important things in their life as a reminder to work safely today followed up by uniform inspection At the construction site there are also workers from other co-operative companies so as a construction site manager it's Yuya's responsibility to guide and communicate building plan requirements to each party so the house is built to specification each and every time This current project is a three-story home designed to be a tenant occupied rental with the owner living on the top floor 380 square meters of total living space on a 132 square meters of land all scheduled to complete within four months after the morning meeting the workers including Yuya start with a 10 minute cleaning What about all the garbage ? Japan is already fairly strict on waste management but Yuya's company takes it one step further for example they sort their waste into 19 recyclable categories At the beginning of the day he performs a walkthrough with the KY form paying careful attention to the workers health condition helmets and safety equipment are being properly used and tools and materials are properly kept What's that ? since the workers will be using the scaffolding today he inspects it beforehand to ensure it's safe to use as he's responsible for injuries that occur on site So Yuya is a Ni-Kyu Kenchikushi a prefecture license certified second-class architect which allows him to manage small housing construction A first class license would allow for larger construction projects such as Olympic stadiums but would require passing a national qualifying exam where only about 10% of the applicants are able to pass What are you doing now ? Throughout the day Yuya performs Junkai which is a regular site walkthrough to ensure all of the workers are completing each task to specification apparently his company has strict and precise guidelines to produce high quality homes and each one undergoes three levels of inspection one by him every day then by his supervisor and finally by the quality assurance team Oh he marked something !! What was wrong ? So, What your main responsibility ? QCDSEM stands for Quality Cost Delivery Safety Environment & Morale Where are you going now ? Nice he's picking up drinks for everyone Now he takes a 30 minute break with the workers so construction work in Japan also has a dark history where many are overworked to the point of exhaustion so it's his responsibility to ensure that everyone under his supervision gets enough rest Isn't it hot in the summer ? you guys don't use a fan ? now back to work What are you guys checking right now ? WOW !! This building plan has over 200 pages It's also Yuya's responsibility to know every detail about the building plan so he can clarify any questions from the construction workers What's this ? This X-shaped structural brace is installed in all of their homes as Japan is ranked fourth in the world for having earthquakes so earthquake resistant building laws have been in place since 1924 and have been updated over the years such as the Shin-Taishin standard requiring that all buildings must be able to withstand a stage six seismic event on Japan's seven stage seismic scale so what would happen if there was an earthquake right now ? Also Japanese homes are often built right next to each other so they must adhere to Japanese fireproofing laws for example they must be able to tolerate fire for at least one hour without collapsing as well as contain inside fires from breaching outer walls and vice versa even pipes traveling between floors must be wrapped in a special fire retardant material designed to melt during a fire effectively sealing the hole and trapping the fire so it looks like Yuya is going to be doing his inspection for a little bit longer so while he's doing that let's do our own inspection Okay look at this area looks like the garage I guess they're using it as a temporary storage spot for building materials Can I ask you a question ? What are you doing now ? Apparently it's fairly detailed construction since the pattern is a bit complicated so he has to be careful Hi what are you doing ? Yay !! Lunchtime Today he's decided to eat at a soba shop in the area it looks like he's having one of their specialties chicken nanban soba do you always eat alone ? I guess this is how life in Japan is these days What's next after this ? before workers come back he prepares the Sagyokan Renraku Chosei a specific form workers need to fill out to indicate what work needs to be done tomorrow including the number of workers Yuya is relatively young in the company so he manages one project at a time meaning he builds about three houses a year but he continues to work hard and builds his skills with goals to be able to manage several buildings at a time What's your favorite part of your job ? By the way Yuya's company uses a prefabricated style of construction where the raw materials such as board and planks are pre-cut at the factory and delivered in exact quantities and then constructed all on-site this allows them to build consistent and high-quality homes in relatively shorter times with minimal waste What's that ? I get your flow It's usually hidden behind the wall so you don't get to see it What's that ? Oh I guess Yuya is leaving for the office How far is the office from the station ? and it's probably no surprise that his company even built their own office building [Speaking in Japanese] Nice. His office works on a free desk system so what do you need to do here ? These days he goes to the office only once a week and when he does he needs to get approval from the company apparently this system started as part of their COVID prevention but now it's become part of their labor reform initiative so while in the office he also talks to vendors fills out building forms invoices reviews change requests basically taking care of general admin work now he has a meeting with the designer to double check some items brought to light from today's site work What's that ? Joutou is a traditional Japanese ceremony held when the framework of a house is completed sake salt and rice are spread at the corners of the house to pray for safe construction as well as to cleanse and purify it oh it looks like he's getting advice from a senior co-worker about his current project so it looks like Yuya has a little bit more office work so while he does that let's go do what we do and explore this place Hi can I ask you a question ? What are you doing right now ? Oh ! You are a designer ? How long have you been with the company ? What's this ? How long did it take you to design and plan ? How many houses do you design in a year ? Look at this room I wonder what they do here ? Excuse me What's this room? How many are there? I can see why they call this smart control center as it monitors all of their houses and buildings under construction using 360 degree cameras on-site video is even archived so they can go back at any point in time Are you always alone in this room ? In fact the morning meeting was held from this room Its says living salon I wonder what this is !! Hello !! What's this place ? so in their showroom customers planning to build new homes can physically check their space requirements using these moving walls In Japan space is generally tight so every centimeter counts At the same time this space allows customers to preview building materials configurations and finishes they've even got mini toilets On the same floor but outside their showroom has demo garden configurations so customers can experience it in natural sunlight that's convenient Do you still need to do something ? Yay !! Finally done for the day On the way back home he stops by his favorite Bento shop Whoa !! I guess he's having Karaage for dinner That looks amazing !! Do you always buy Bento's at the shop ? Yuya says that before COVID he often went out to dinner with his co-workers but now he meets them online for a drink which is scheduled for later tonight so he has a bit more time before everyone gets online so he works on one of his hobbies photography Oh wow !! That looks so cool Where did you take that ? Nice. I guess his work classmates are online now all right it looks like Yuya's going to be drinking until maybe 10 o'clock tonight and then after that probably go to sleep at 11 but this is pretty much a day in the life of a Japanese homebuilder let me know what you thought in the comments if you guys like this video like always help me out and hit that like button if you guys want to help support the channel then definitely check out the Japan merch if you guys want to see what I'm doing on the daily then check out my Instagram account and if you guys want to see more videos like this or anything related to Japan hit that subscribe button and the bell button and I'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 3,456,528

Keywords: Paolo, Japan, japanese home, japan life, life in japan, day in the life japan, japanese house, life in tokyo, living in japan, working in japan, a day in the life, japan work culture, japanese worker, japanese house tour, japanese home design, inside a japanese home, japan home, Japanese construction worker, japanese home builder, japan house, building a house in japan, buying a house in japan, Daiwa house, japanese construction, home construction, home building, tokyo

Id: 3AbhT6TLf60

Length: 15min 57sec (957 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 05 2021