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This is a day in the life of a Japanese
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hotel worker
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this is johay 30 years old living in
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tokyo and he's just waking up for work
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he starts his day by checking his
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temperature as these days it's become a
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company requirement he lives in this one
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room apartment
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and by Tokyo standards it's fairly
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spacious
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[Music]
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yo hey how long does it take you before
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you leave the house
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i guess that's a single life
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interestingly Tokyo has a highest number
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of single households in Japan
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at 49 whereas the average in Japan is 35
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percent
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damn that's a lot of masks i guess these
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days you can never have enough
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Yohe is originally from Chiba and first
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moved to Tokyo for university
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after graduating he started working for
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his current company first in kobe for
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two years
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then transferring back to tokyo
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yohi lives only five minutes away from
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the train station and then another 15
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minute train ride to work without a
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transfer
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it's not the shortest commute time but
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far better than most in tokyo plus he
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doesn't have to negotiate through a
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Tokyo rush hour transfer
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all right we're back with another day in
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our life i'm really excited to see how
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this day unfolds
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johan should be on this train right now
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let's see how he slept the night before
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...the night before.
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[Music]
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[Paolo] Good morning!
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[Paolo] How did you sleep last night?
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[Music]
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[Paolo] Is your office far from here?
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[Music]
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So Yohei works as an assistant manager at
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APA Hotel Shinjuku-Gyoemmae.
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APA is one of the largest hotel chains in Japan.
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There are 623 hotels in the country,
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with about 98,000 rooms.
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[Music]
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APA Hotel uniquely identify as a new urban style hotel.
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High quality, high functionality -
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- without all the unnecessary services.
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Often mistaken as a Japanese business hotel,
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which are typically budget style hotels.
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Smaller rooms, bare amenities
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and close to the train station.
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Originally intended for traveling Japanese salarymen.
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After clocking in, Yohei has a tradition Japanese morning meeting called "chorei".
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At his hotel, though, there are both day shift and night shift workers.
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day shift and night shift workers;
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and so at the beginning of each shift, they hold a similar meeting.
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To command, principles in unison, staff recite the APA principles in unison,
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which is typical for many Japanese companies.
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Afterwards, the staff practice their customer greetings.
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In Japan, there's a unique hospitality custom called "omotenashi".
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It means services are always completely genuine and honest.
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Because it's so deeply rooted in Japanese culture,
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the staff make extra efforts to provide guests with the best experience possible,
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without expecting anything in return.
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[Music]
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First thing in the morning, Yohei cleans around the hotel.
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[Paolo] Yohei!
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Yohei, do you do this every morning?
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In Japan, it's important for companies to
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maintain a clean, kept area in front of
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their business; which also includes
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public walkways.
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Although not their responsibility to clean,
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they do it anyway.
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Next, he helps sanitize the hotel.
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Due to COVID, the hotel has adopted
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stricter cleaning and sterilization measures
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Yohei visits each of the 14 floors in the building
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and wipes down all the elevator buttons,
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as well as other high touch areas in the hotel.
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During peak checkout times, Yohei focuses on assisting guests.
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The hotel uses express checkout stands.
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The machine has a built-in sensor that
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recognizes the room number, automatically registering the checkout
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into the system while also notifying the
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cleaning crew that the room is ready to be cleaned.
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Oh! I guess he's going to the hotel restaurant!
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So, Yohei checks in with a head chef to
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confirm the next day's menu so he can prepare signage,
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as well as inform inquiring guests.
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Mmm! Something smells good!
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Oh there you go, breakfast is served
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What's in here?
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In Japan, hotels are often used as
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evacuation locations, so storing food and water is necessary.
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So why did you decide to work at a hotel?
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Oh, it looks like they're starting their monthly fire drill.
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So they select the location in the hotel for the 'fire' to start.
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It's a staff's responsibility to quickly and safely guide guests to
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evacuate as well as extinguish the fire, if possible.
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Usually the hotel is filled with guests, so it's critical for the
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team to regularly drill in case a real
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fire were to happen, in order to keep
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everyone safe.
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Wow, they're really taking this seriously.
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I'm getting flashbacks from another day in the life I recently did.
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Apparently, the company also have first responder
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training four times a year!
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So that all the staff are comfortable with evacuation procedures,
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reporting to the fire department and even handling a fire extinguisher.
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After the drill, the team reviews what they did.
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Good and bad.
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So they can make improvements for the next time around.
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What just happened?
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Throughout the day he's tasked with
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random guest requests and issues like this.
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It's critical for the hotel to always
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maintain a clean and pleasant
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environment for its guests.
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So a lot of his time is also spent regularly
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checking that the hotel facilities are well-kept.
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Yohei, what do you enjoy most about working here?
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Okay! A company man!
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You don't really have much office work, right?
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In addition, he adjusts room prices
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based on the current room occupancy to attract more guests.
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So it looks like Yohei has some office
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tasks to do right now.
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Let's take advantage of this time and
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see if there's room to explore this place
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So this is one each of the floors.
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Let's go inside and see what they have!
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I guess basically it has everything that you would expect.
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It has sheets, towels, it has soap, it has batteries it has cups.
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That's pretty much everything you would need.
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What's quite interesting is that the elevators here have two doors.
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One is used for the clients and then the other one is used for the workers.
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This right behind me right here says deluxe toilet!
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Let's see what a deluxe toilet looks like.
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Let's lock that. Basically, you have your basic baby
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changer here and then you have your
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regular automatic toilet; Which I love.
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Even has a special flushing sound
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so that you don't bother anyone or
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if you make special noises in here that
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other people can't hear from the outside.
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And just behind me they even have their own parking lot!
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But, because real estate is a little bit tight in the city
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they have a special type of parking lot,
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let me show you
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Wow, look at all of these batteries right here
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I suppose with 411 rooms there's as many or even more remote controls
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Oh, I guess he's decided to have lunch at
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the hotel restaurant today.
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Since staff rotate on breaks, Yohei usually eats lunch by himself.
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Oh, that's the same curry we saw earlier!
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I wonder what it tastes like.
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Looks like he's having hamburger for lunch.
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That looks amazing!
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Do you eat here often?
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After lunch, he prepares for room inspections.
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To maintain the highest level of room cleanliness,
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he performs quality checks for 10 rooms randomly.
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If he finds an issue, he fixes it himself and reports it back
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to the cleaning crew so the same thing
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won't happen again.
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Oh there's Shinjuku-Gyoen Park!
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Yohei, how did this room do?
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Well that's one room down, nine to go!
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So these are the standard size rooms.
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[Music]
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Cool! Even has luggage space under the bed.
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So after this check, he re-sanitizes the room.
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The cleaning crew also sanitizes the room, but since
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he entered the room afterwards, the room
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must be sanitized again.
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Oh! Now he's going to the Daiyokujo.
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In English, it's a large bath at a ryokan or hotel.
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Yohei, what are you doing?
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It's widely known that Japanese have a
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deep-rooted bath culture,
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preferring full baths over showers.
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Because of this, many urban and business hotels
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these days offer a shared bath area.
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In fact, many salarymen and
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other Japanese decide upon the hotel
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based on whether the hotel has a shared
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bath or not.
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Here they have the onsen bath where all of
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the guests can come and use.
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What you can see right behind me is that they
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have these stalls where you can take a
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shower and clean yourself off before you go in.
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And look right there, they have
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everything you need: shampoo, soap and conditioner.
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[Music]
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During the peak check-in hour, Yohei
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assists guests with the check-in machine.
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At his hotel, guests can also check in
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through an app to save time at the front desk.
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Guests can simply scan the code and
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immediately receive their card.
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Oh, the guest sent a package to the hotel in advance!
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Now, Yohei is helping him carry it to his room.
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In Japan, tipping is not customary, and in
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some ways can be awkward, as it's unexpected.
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It's ingrained in Japanese culture
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to take pride in your work, no matter at what level.
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So receiving a tip as an incentive to deliver the best
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service is viewed as unnecessary, all
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tying back to Omotenashi.
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As an assistant manager, Yohei also helps
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train the staff throughout the day,
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providing guidance on proper procudeures
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and overall guest services.
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How long have you been working here?
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What do you like most about this job?
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After check-ins slow down, Yohei has
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to perform other miscellaneous tasks.
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Oh, he's speaking Keigo.
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It's a formal way of speaking polite
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Japanese, intended for customers,
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superiors, and hotel guests.
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Schools in Japan generally teach students
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the fundamentals, but only until one enters
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the real world is it used.
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So even for Japanese people, it's sometimes
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difficult to speak without practice.
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How long does the hotel keep the lost & found items?
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What about the expensive stuff?
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Good work! That's another happy guest!
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He still has a little bit of time left, so
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he sanitizes the used cards for next time.
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And now, he cleans around the hotel
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one more time before leaving.
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Yay! Finally finished!
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After work, he usually goes out
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dinner with his friends, as
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there are many restaurants and bars
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in the Shinjuku area.
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But because of COVID, these days
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he goes straight home.
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Oh, he's making gyoza tonight!
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That looks pretty good!
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In Yohei's free time, he plays
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the guitar in a band, and he
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writes his own music.
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Wow, he's pretty talented!
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I guess tonight he's feeling it!
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So it looks like Yohei is gonna be
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playing the guitar for just a little bit longer.
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Then after that he'll take a bath, and
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then probably go to sleep by 12 o'clock tonight.
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Let me know what you guys thought of
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this day in the life of Japanese hotel worker.
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