Name: Day in the Life of an Average Japanese Salaryman in Tokyo
Uploaded: 2020-03-19T17:22:46.000Z
Duration: 11 min 34 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Present continuous

This is Makoto a 27 year old single salaryman living in Tokyo and he's just waking up for work.

To-infinitive

He prefers to skip showers in the morning as well as skipping breakfast at home.

Very common in Japan and also time efficient.

His house is relatively large for Tokyo...

...but he shares it with his family who run their business from the first floor.

Looks like the rest of the family is still asleep.

In summer, Tokyo becomes unbearably hot, so he dresses in cool biz, meaning light attire...

...no tie or suit jacket. Some traditional Japanese companies don't agree though...

...and you'll catch some of these salarymen walking the streets in the video.

Makoto, how long does it take you to get ready?

Mikoto lives too far from the nearest train station, Akabane, to walk every morning...

...so he takes a "mama chari" - a Japanese slang for mom's bike.

Many people who live far from the station ride their bikes...

...and park them in paid spaces as the city confiscates bikes in un-designated spots.

So there's this unwritten escalator etiquette in Tokyo: stand on the left, and walk on the right.

As you can see, Makoto is excited to get to work, so no standing for him!

So Akabane is in the northern part of Tokyo, right next to Saitama.

Makoto's office is located in Korakuen, which is luckily in the northern part of Tokyo as well.

So he only has a 30 minute train ride to work, which is half the time for a standard Tokyo commute.

But, he does have to transfer mid-way and take two trains to get to work.

Alright, so I think Makoto's train is arriving right now.

Oh look, that's Tokyo Dome! That's pretty cool, but the trains must be crazy busy on game day.

Makoto works for a company called Mobal - a sim card provider in Japan.

Makoto was hired straight out of university, and he plans to stay with Mobal...

...his entire career - another characteristic of a Japanese salaryman.

So he's gonna pay with an IC card, - commonly used in Japan at konbinis, trains, taxis, restaurants...

...and even vending machines - all with one touch.

Oh, how convenient! His office is in the same building as the konbini.

As the youngest employee in the company, he's always the first one to arrive at the office.

It gives him time to get the office ready, and get some work done.

Makoto, how many people are in the office?

These two ladies are interns that Makoto is helping manage, and that's his boss.

...you can see that Makoto sits next to his boss without any barriers open seating style.

In larger Japanese companies, usually an office lady would prepare tea and coffee in the morning...

...but in smaller companies, you'll find the youngest person will be tasked with many of the...

...day-to-day administration. Seems like Makoto is happy to do it though!

We're gonna be going to a lot of places...

...but that's kind of, like, what happens when you work at a small office.

You kind of have to do everything, and Makoto...

He comes in, turns on the lights makes the coffee for everyone...

I don't know. Is this, like, very similar to your country? Let me know in the comments.

How much time do you have until the meeting?

So Makoto's official title is "Marketing Advisor" which is kind of vague.

In fact, his business card doesn't even have a title on it...

...which will make a bit more sense as the video goes on.

So Makoto is visiting a coffee roaster in Tsukishima...

...to prepare shipments for the company's subscribers.

It seems kind of odd for a SIM card company to be in coffee subscriptions...

...but, the business is part of the company's initiative, as it donates all the earnings...

...to charity, called "Warm Hearts Coffee Club."

Managing this effort is also part of Makoto's job.

So they're actually roasting the coffee beans right now as we speak.

Now he's heading to Shibuya from Tsukishima, which are on opposite ends of Tokyo.

If you've been working in Japan long enough, like me...

...you'll notice that there's almost an excessive amount of face-to-face meetings in between companies.

Even though many interactions can be done over the phone, Japanese feel it's important to meet and...

...talk in person to build strong relationships.

In fact, Makoto spends a lot of his day traveling on the train between home, office, and client visits.

I'll save you from the monotony and edit out most of the travelling, but pay close attention to the time...

...inbetween locations that gets eaten up by travel.

He doesn't have a lot of time for a sit-down lunch, so he's gonna pick up some food at the スーパー...

... - or in English, "Supermarket" - then head back to the office to grind out...

I don't want to bother him during his lunch, so let's go Ford Explorer on this office.

...and I think here... there's a company here.

So it looks like there's like three rooms, or like three companies on this floor.

And then you have the men's bathroom, and then you have the women's bathroom.

Like all videos, let's check out what it looks like!

I don't know... do you guys like looking at other people's bathrooms or is it just me?

Oh, so one toilet on the floor, and with the standard Japanese washlet.

And it looks like they do have this sink area, which is pretty centered as well on most floors...

...with like these only, like, small business floors.

I think it's like pretty much required to have like a sink, and instead of having one in the office...

...that everyone shares like this, like, common space.

You know what's actually in these boxes are SIM cards.

Like, free SIM card service for the rest of your life?

So I think I found something. What's this?

Makoto, you travel so much. Can you use taxis instead to get around?

So now, Makoto and his boss are going to meet with SoftBank, their supplier for SIM cards.

In more formal Japanese meetings, it's normal to take several people from your company.

In fact, I've been in meetings where more than ten people from one company attend!

Nice, one of the first Japanese business manners to master is the 名刺交換...