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  • This is a Day in a Life of a Japanese Game Programmer.

  • This is Masa.

  • 23 year old programmer living in Tokyo and working for one of the largest video game companies in Japan.

  • And this is how he starts his workday.

  • He lives alone in a typical Japanese apartment.

  • Which are known for their efficient use of space like this enclosed unit bath with built-in sink facilities.

  • Masa, how long does it take for you to get ready for work?

  • Like most salaryman in Tokyo, he commutes to work by train, door-to-door about 40 minutes, so it's not bad.

  • But, more than half of his trip is walking to and from the train station.

  • Not pleasant on rainy days like this.

  • Alright, so Masa should be coming soon, but the typhoons these months have been really, really crazy.

  • Dang! Look! The trains are super packed!

  • Crazy typhoon, right?

  • So, Masa works for Bandai Namco Studios, which is the network entertainment unit of Bandai Namco group.

  • They're known for developing popular game paddles like Tekken, Mario Kart, and even Pac-Man.

  • And, there's about a thousand employees in the Tokyo office spread across five floors.

  • That's his digital timecard.

  • He's officially clocked in now.

  • Also, common in many Japanese companies is for employees to change into slippers for the work day.

  • So, this is Masa's office.

  • Very common Japanese tile-desk with low dividers.

  • So, Masa keeps his desk area simple like many of his coworkers.

  • It's very different when compared to Western desks which are often littered with decorations and family pictures.

  • First thing in the morning, he checks his email as well as the internal company's social network for updates, while also having a quick breakfast.

  • Masa, where did you buy a juice?

  • What is that?

  • So, Masa is doing his morning task right now.

  • It's gonna be some time before he has kind of like a break, because he's pretty focused.

  • So, let's go walk around the office and see what kind of facilities they have!

  • So, right behind Masa's desk, they have a game corner kind of placed right here.

  • And they have the Switch, they have the PlayStation, they have Xbox, and they even have some virtual reality gear!

  • I guess you get to play games anytime you want which is pretty cool!

  • Wow!

  • And just below here, there's a big, big computer!

  • I think it's an alienware

  • computer.

  • Looks like one powerful machine.

  • All right, so this is the break room area on the second floor.

  • Let's see what they have!

  • Separate all of the trash.

  • They have burnables, you have the cans, and the bottles and you also have the non-burnables like plastic.

  • They have a hot water pot and microwave.

  • So, this behind me is their snack corner but it runs on the honor system.

  • So, basically at the top, you have a place where you deposit money.

  • All the different chocolates or candies, they have a price for it.

  • And even the refrigerator has the frozen treats like ice cream and whatnot.

  • And you just need to pay on the honor system.

  • And then you take what you actually paid for.

  • I don't know how would this do in your country's office?

  • All right, and so, let's check what's down here.

  • So, this place says library, but in fact, it's not a library of books! It's a library of games!

  • Check this out!

  • So, they have all these different consoles all the way from like Nintendo to PC Engine.

  • I don't even know what it is.

  • An original NES here.

  • Gamecube.

  • An original Sega.

  • Sega Saturn.

  • Even a Family Computer.

  • They have like every single game ever!

  • And it's not just in this aisle!

  • They have this aisle and they have this aisle.

  • And then they have this aisle but...

  • But this aisle actually looks like books.

  • They even have all kinds of game cartridges from back-in-the-day.

  • Nintendo DS.

  • They even have like a baseball game.

  • Sim City.

  • I wonder how many years it would take to play all of these games.

  • What's your favorite old-school console?

  • Because I'm sure they probably have it here.

  • So, this area here is their administration section of the office.

  • It's kind of like the business side of the company.

  • And this behind me is where all of the executives stay.

  • So, this area is a lot nicer than the common area.

  • But as you can see, the office are fairly reasonable.

  • The president's room is fairly the same size as the other executives.

  • Finally!

  • Lunch Time!

  • So, he's Masa's Douki, which means the co-worker who started working at the company at the same time.

  • In fact, it's common for many Japanese companies to do mass hiring once-a-year for college graduates.

  • Just outside this dope cafeteria, food trucks come during lunch time.

  • Apparently, the trucks vary each day.

  • But damn, it doesn't look like a pleasant experience waiting in line during this typhoon.

  • Masa, do you always eat here?

  • So, is this the only office in Japan?

  • That's a decent option for lunch!

  • Itadakimasu is a customary term used by Japanese before each meal.

  • Meaning: "Let's Eat." or "Thank you for the Meal!"

  • Looks like they have a little time before their lunch break finishes. I wonder where they're going.

  • What is that?

  • Oh wow!

  • They take their Pac-Man serious here!

  • And like all the games here, it's also free-to-play anytime.

  • Masa, so what are you doing now?

  • So, kinda got some free time while Masa is working.

  • So, why don't we spend this time and maybe go meet some people.

  • So, apparently, they have all their different teams working in different parts of the office.

  • We're actually on a different floor right now.

  • Excuse me.

  • So, what kind of work do you do?

  • What's Code Vein?

  • So, Code Vein is a dramatic, exploration, action RPG.

  • With animated-out characters in a challenging and dangerous dungeon environment.

  • So, can you show me?

  • I think he was ready to show it.

  • He want the game right now.

  • But, he's just asking some of those guys to prepare the game for me and they're gonna put it on the screen.

  • So yeah, I'm kind of excited to see what kind of game it is.

  • Wow, this is an attractive looking game. How long did it take to develop this game?

  • He also said that at one time, there was about 200 people involved in developing the game.

  • And even when it's released, development is still not complete as they update the game based on user feedback and create new downloadable content.

  • Alright, this is kind of fun. Let's go ask more people what they're doing.

  • It looks like just over there, the people are having a meeting. Let's see what they're doing.

  • Excuse me. Can I ask you guys some questions?

  • So, what do you do?

  • What were you guys doing just now?

  • Can I get a peek at what you're working on?

  • Oh wow!

  • They have a real-deal Tekken 7 machine!

  • Found that game-centers are right next to their work-desk!

  • I guess testing character functionality is part of a days work for these developers, or maybe this is how they settle arguments in the office.

  • So, it looks like Masa is not in his seat right now.

  • He's supposed to be here, but I guess not.

  • Maybe he went somewhere. Let's go find out where he is.

  • Oh, there's Masa! He's having a scrum meeting!

  • I believe he has this meeting everyday for 30 minutes. They review what they programmed the previous day.

  • What needs to be done today and share and discuss problems for the future.

  • And they use software to manage all the tasks and display it on the screen during their meeting.

  • Oh, are you going to code again?

  • So, where are we now?

  • Okay.

  • So, Masa has a full-on employee nap space at his office.

  • And he even brought his own heated-steamed eye mask.

  • He sure doesn't mess around when it comes to his naps.

  • What is that?

  • Now he's back to his coding again, so basically this is what Masa does all day.

  • I mean from morning till the afternoon till the evening before he goes home.

  • He is programming like this in front of a black screen.

  • Oh! He's going to the finance department to ask about expenses.

  • So, this is the second scrum meeting.

  • The Sprint Review: Held once every two weeks.

  • Usually, they combine it with their first scrum meeting but due to scheduling issues with one of the other members: they have to break up the meeting today.

  • It is interesting though that they use post-it notes to do their final review.

  • I guess sometimes...analog is just better.

  • By the way, the meeting rooms can be booked from this digital panel here. That's pretty convenient.

  • Now, he's finishing up his tasks: checking emails that he missed during the meeting and writing a log of today's activities.

  • Yay! Finally, work is done! Just a little over 8 hours!

  • But Masa says he does have to do overtime once-in-a-while during large projects.

  • Overall though, that's pretty good for a Japanese company as many other places require their staff to work a lot of overtime hours, which is often unpaid.

  • Now, Masa is meeting up with his work friends for dinner.

  • Otsukaresama-desu is another customary office-term.

  • Often used to greet your co-workers.

  • A difficult translation, loosely translated to mean: "Thank You For Your Work."

  • And today is payday and it's Friday as well so time to let loose a bit.

  • Usually in Japanese drinking culture, everyone orders drinks at their own pace, while everyone shares the food.

  • Group splits an entire tab equally at the end, no matter how much each person drank or ate.

  • Also, smoking indoors in Japan is fine as long as the restaurants are okay with it.

  • Which is usually the case with Izakaya drinking restaurants.

  • So Masa, what else do you do in your free time?

  • Even after-work, his PC desk is his go-to-spot.

  • Masa, do you watch YouTube?

  • Well, I don't know much about Gundam, but I can tell from looking around he sure loves it.

  • So, what are you gonna do for the rest of the night?

  • So, Masa's gonna be doing this for another couple hours. It looks like he'll be doing this until midnight.

  • So yeah. This is what he does at the end of the night.

  • All right. So, that's a Day in the Life of a Japanese Game Programmer.

  • What did you guys think?

  • I actually have quite a few Day in the Life videos.

  • So, if this is your first time: I'll leave a link to the playlist.

  • And you guys can check that out.

  • And as always, if you want to help support the channel then definitely check out the Tokyo merch.

  • And if you want to see more Day in the Life videos, then I have so much more coming.

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This is a Day in a Life of a Japanese Game Programmer.

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