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Day in the Life of a Japanese Casino Worker Pachinko — Transcript · YTtoTranscript

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Day in the Life of a Japanese Casino Worker Pachinko

Paolo fromTOKYO · 1,905 words · 10 min read · EN

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Below is the complete, readable transcript of Day in the Life of a Japanese Casino Worker Pachinko by Paolo fromTOKYO on YouTube. Read the full text, copy any part you need, or generate a transcript for any video with our free tool.

This is the day in the life of a Japanese Casino Worker.

This is Kento. 27-years old, living in Tokyo, and this is how he gets ready for his day. Unlike most Japanese he prefers to take a short shower in the morning to start his day So Kento's job requires him to change in uniform when he arrives, but despite this he prefers to wear a suit

during his commute. In fact, it's common for Japanese men to wear suits even though they will change into another uniform when they reach their workplace.

so today he has "Hayaban" which means early shift. Depending on the day, he rotates with other staff, between early shift and night shift, "Osoban" He says though his company is careful to avoid scheduling a morning shift following a night shift from the previous day.

He lives about 15 minutes away from work by train he decidedly lives in a relatively less crowded area, mostly residential, with some shops and restaurants near the station so that he has direct train line access to Shinjuku station the world's busiest train station with over 3.6 million people passing through daily! It's usually more crowded with people at the station, but

today is Saturday, so there's far less commuters and salary men especially at this time. So, it's quite early this morning, but Kento's train should be arriving shortly here in Shinjuku. so how long did you sleep last night?

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Before he arrives at work he stops at the convenience store to pick up his lunch OH! He's paying via the phone app which is relatively new in Japan as about 80% of transactions are still cash based So Kento works at Maruhan one of the largest casino entertainment companies in Japan, with 6 years of history and more than

23,000 employees Maruhan offers slot machines and pachinko which has been common integral part of Japanese culture, accounting for one-third of the Japanese entertainment and leisure making and don't worry, i'll explain pachinko a little bit later on in this video. before kento clocks in he usually has a quick smoke at the smoking room next to the main office. In fact,

Japan is well-known for its open smoking culture, compared to many western countries. Buuut, April 2020 Japan completely bans indoor smoking, except for designated smoking rooms like this one.

So, one's clocked in he has to change in to his uniform. Kento! What are you doing?

So, he also needs to change into his work shoes. I guess the man knows what he likes! so the company actually dry cleans all the workers' shirts at the end of each day, so they look fresh and clean when they start work.

What's that ?!

Damn! You need to carry more tools with you ?!!

to complete his uniform he wears a wireless headset in order to communicate with other other staff throughout the day Is that a floor map ?!

and since his picture is set aside, he has the free roaming position today so kento just arrived at work He's changed and ready to go now he has to go around and prepare the casino area Let's see what he does!!

so kento works as the pachinko parlor hall manager and his first task of the morning is to ensure that all of the machines are working properly he checks to see if the balls are moving correctly balls are not left over from the previous day, and that a guide book is set on the side on each machine

he does this one by one for each machine on the floor Next, he must ensure that all of the floor signage are working properly

So, you need to clean the outside too?

and this is the line for customers waiting to enter so that they can get the first pick of the machines the doors actually open at 10am today but, customers start lining up just before 9. Interestingly though the parlor hosts a morning lottery to decide who gets to enter first and their choice of the machine. So, it's kento's job

to also organize the line so that the customers don't block pedestrians walking through.

Like many traditional Japanese companies, kento's workplace starts the day with a morning meeting called "Chorei", but, their morning meeting is a little more energetic than most as they perform "Koedashi" which means they practice speaking clearly and loudly, in proper language, in unison because the pachinko hall is a large working environment it's critical for the staff to be able to speak to customers

and each other clearly and at a high volume

now he gets a short break.

You're number 1?! How did you win ?1

Wow! So, there's more than a 1000 people lined up outside I can't wait to see what happens when they all get in here.

Finally! Lottery time! They have a special machine for customers to draw tickets. and again it's kento's job to organize the people in line

When the hall opens, kento focuses on greeeting and welcoming each and every customer that enters Wow! Only a few minutes after opening the floor is filled with customers Now, he must walk around the floor to assist the customers if they have any questions or if they need any help From here, it appears that he is super close to the customer, but

it's a necessary distance as the hall is extremely loud

Yaaaay! Finally, Lunch time !! so his lunch breaks are only 30 minutes long. so he needs to be quick to save time he usually eats convenience store foods in the office. Today he went with the curry bento, which actually looks pretty good!

As part of his job, he also has a bit of computer work he needs to verify the "Hikitsugi" which is basically a daily record of the events from the shift before him. staff must report what happened during the shift with things like machines, customers etc. and share it with the next shift so there isn't a break in the service quality.

So, our kento is doing some work there, so lemme kind of show you around and show you how this whole thing works So, Maruhan has pachinko and slot machines slot machines are fairly universal so let me explain how to play pachinko. pachinko is a type of mechanical ball game, resembling pinball, but instead with many tiny balls and with

an aim to drop the balls in a specific pocket in the machine if one of the balls goes into the designated pocket called "Start chakka" it will initiate a slot machine like whirl on the LCD screen if the numbers or patterns line up, then it a jackpot! and then your winnings more balls will be dispensed in the bottom of the tray.

So, here's the interesting part. The winnings can be used to claim various prizes like these offered at the front desk. But, cannot be claimed as cash directly as gambling is prohibited by Japanese Law instead, the winnings can be exchanged into gold chips then outside at neighbouring TUC shop the gold chips can be exchanged for cash.

Oh! and they even have an app which reports the usage history and winning statistics from each machine which is one of the reasons why many customers wanna come early and get their choice of machine

Now he's back at the hall and similar to the morning he attends to the customers. But, as machines get used by customers, he must ensure that each machine remains clean, so he wipes down each machine and takes trash away from customers. In Japanese customer service, there is an old saying, "Ohkyaku sama wa kami-sama"

which directly translated means "customers are god" which basically means that even if the customers are saying something wrong you still apologise while also being extremely polite and careful to never get in the customers way. Oh! He found a ball on the floor in this case he usually gives it to the closest customer sitting down

So, when a customer continues to win, they eventually run out of space for their winnings. When that happens, kento's job is to create more space for them. He uses this special cart to store the balls or medals which is locked up so no one steals it. Oh! I guess the customer has taken a meal break

so during this time kento turns off the machine so that other customers can't use it. This is a coin-counter for the slot machines.

He's also responsible for helping clean the toilets Now, he gets another short break. How many breaks do you get in a day?

So what are you doing now?

So he does this several times a day looking for data errors and potential fraud. If he discovers a problem, he immediately notifies the store staff to resolve the issue, ensuring that customers have an enjoyable experience. Oh! There's number one. He's working on something. What are you doing right now?

Now he's reviewing the security camera footage. Apparently, the systems can register the customers who steal via face recognition. The system can even detect customers despite covering up with caps or masks So as part of being the hall manager, Kento must evaluate the floor staff, periodically. His company emphasizes superior customer service So frequent evaluation is a crucial part

of maintaining their level of service. Oh nice ! They have a "How to play" book in different languages for foreign customers. Oh! and she is a new employee. You can tell by the yellow and green badge on her shirt and he's gonna give her feedback now. He tells me that when he was

on the other end of the table when he first started the process allowed him to learn a lot about customer service. Now it's his turn to write up the "Hikitsugi" For the next shift so they can see what happened today "Thank you for your work" Finally it's time to wrap up the shift with "shurei"

a final staff meeting, in this meeting the staff share what happened during the day and use it as a learning moment so they can better perform in the future. At the end, the staff perform a pocket check to help prevent a staff theft "And lastly" "Thank you for everyday" Oh! It's her last day of work,

so she's giving a speech. in Japan, it's customary for staff to to present a "Shikishi" , a huge card with messages on it.

Yaaay! Now we're done with work.

yakiniku=BBQ Instead of going home kento usually goes out for dinner and drinking with his coworkers. So, now they're headed to the restaurant to meet up with some of their coworkers.

"Good Work" In Japan, drinking at dinner with a group of people is called "nomikai" often held at an isekaya drinking restaurant For many Japanese, nomikais are an important part of work culture as this is where they really get to know their coworkers which helps create a stronger bond at the workplace. In fact, kento says that many of

the staff live on the same train line so they often go out with each other So, kento and his coworkers are gonna be here probably until 10'oclock, eating and drinking and then after that who knows cause they're in Shinjuku