Day in the Life of a Japanese Panko Factory Owner

this is the day in life of a japanese

panko factory owner

[Applause]

[Music]

this is show 43 years old living in

tokyo

he wakes up earlier than most japanese

to start his work day

he lives with his wife and two daughters

in this two-story house

but sleeps in a separate bedroom so not

to wake them up in the morning

show and his wife both work full time so

he shares the house chores like doing

the dishes

[Music]

damn you have a lot of records how many

do you have and you say

which one is your favorite

wow lyrics are screen pitted on the

fabric he says this diy spirit is the

same spirit he tries to capture when

creating his punko

[Music]

do you always eat bread in the morning

oh he's working already being a father

and a business owner himself it's

important for him to wake up early to

maximize his day

reading stretching and organizing his

daily tasks

interesting his house has an addict

looks like he's preparing rain boots for

his daughter

[Music]

sho's office is only a 10-minute walk

from his house pretty rare in japan

every morning on his commute he stops by

the inari shrine this particular one is

called

boga inari which is believed to protect

its visitors from fires

quite important for someone who runs his

own factory

[Music]

good morning everyone i'm back with

another day in the life

this one i'm super excited for because

we're going into a japanese factory

show should be coming around the corner

just now let's see how his morning is

good morning did you sleep

was a third generation owner of the kaya

panko factory a family run business

started in 1948 by his grandfather it's

only truly made in tokyo panko factory

baking their own bread to create a flaky

breadcrumb commonly used as a crunchy

coating and fried japanese food their

panko is so highly acclaimed it's used

by 60

of the tonkatsu restaurants listed in

japan's michelin guide as well as chains

like yutan negishi

and even mom and pop stores many in the

industry believe that panko alone will

make the restaurant popular

hello

[Music]

right after he arrives he starts to

organize today's orders since clients

place their orders overnight in many

different ways online phone call

messages

emails line messenger sms and even fax

it's amazing how flexible he is with his

customers and shows how committed he is

to customer service did you originally

want to inherit the business

he would even sit in the truck with his

dad during deliveries the panko factory

was such a large part of his life when

he was a kid he drew a layout of it

which still hangs in the office today

and that's his brother he's the kojocho

aka factory manager

after he finalizes today's orders he

assigns delivery drivers drivers locate

the products on the shelves and

refrigerators and load their trucks

accordingly

[Music]

this machine prints out the tempio in

english an itemized sales slip which is

given to customers at a time of delivery

in japan

many businesses are still paper-based so

this form of receipt is absolutely

necessary

now show prepares cash for delivery even

these days

many of his clients still prefer to pay

in cash so all of his delivery drivers

must carry enough to make change

wow that looks so old are you still

using this

a japanese family crest passed down from

his ancestors

now the morning workers are lining up to

stamp their time cards a

very common practice in traditional

japanese companies

while they're doing that show works on

organizing stock in the factory as an

owner

it's important for him to be involved in

all aspects of the business large or

small he

even makes time to clean toilets despite

daily cleanings by staff some japanese

believe that the active cleansing toilet

also cleanses one's malevolence so

you'll find many successful business

owners participating in this activity

what did you do before becoming a punko

factory owner

now show goes back to his office

replying to emails and texts

as well as other administrative work so

it looks like show has a little bit more

office work to do so while he's doing

that

let's take advantage of this time and

explore this place

so let's go up to the second floor and

let me show you where

all the magic happens but in order to do

that i'm gonna need a change so let's do

that right now

all right good to go let's go do this

now that i'm all set it up let me show

you how the bread making process begins

150 years ago from the meiji period

japanese used sliced bread to make panko

a japanese word pan meaning bread and co

meaning powder

many panko producers use commercially

made bread but nakaya punk will craft

their own bread at their factory

creating 50 different types of honko

every year with their own unique

textures and flavors

first step is to make the dough the

workers mix water yeast and flour

then add salt and sugar and then knead

the mixture after that they add oil and

knead it again

interestingly depending on the weather

that day the workers adjust how long the

dough is fermented as well as the amount

of yeast added in order to produce an

identical product

also since flower producers update their

harvest each year the factory needs to

readjust their ingredients and process

each time it's very much an art of its

own to craft a consistent

and high quality panko each and every

day this machine receives a kneaded

dough and separates it into smaller

clumps

and then the dough rests here for about

15 to 20 minutes

after it cycles through it then drops

down this shoe to be flattened

finally the dough is rolled and placed

in the metal pans by hand

[Music]

now the dough needs to sit in a

fermentation room which is set to 90

humidity i guess my camera's not going

in there after this

the baking process begins how long does

it take to bake this bread

the factory produces 1800 loads of bread

per day

and the lows vary in texture and shape

depending on the end product for this

particular cycle before the bread gets

shredded into small pieces of panko the

workers must remove the crust by using

an automatic slicer

[Music]

the bread itself doesn't come out of the

oven in perfect form so usually

there will be crusted sections like this

so workers remove these spots by hand

[Music]

now that all the crust has been removed

the bread is processed through the

specialized machine

it shreds the bread into small pieces

which are passed through these metal

nets

the holes in the nets vary in size which

ultimately determine the size of the

punko

[Music]

apparently they use about 1.3 tons of

flour to make 800 kilograms or about

1760 pounds of panko

each day

[Music]

so they not only sell panko here but

they also provide an assortment of

ingredients so that when their customers

come

they can buy punko as well as cooking

ingredients kind of like a one-stop shop

pretty convenient

just over there it looks like they have

some deliveries let's go check it out

the factory ensures that the crust

doesn't go to waste and donates it to be

useless food to raise pigs and chicken

[Music]

oh a typical japanese meeting held every

morning before work starts in this

meeting the factory staff review tasks

for the day as well as any issues that

need to be addressed

[Music]

now show goes around the factory floor

to perform a quality inspection

it's important for him to talk directly

with the workers to get feedback on the

condition of the breath

sure can i make panco today you so check

it out y'all they actually

let me make my own panko so you gotta

break it up just like this

that's awesome wow i made the perfect

panko

they even have students visit once a

year

today chefs from an italian restaurant

noc are visiting to learn about sho's

panko

oh they brought temiage a gift to say

thank you

in japanese business culture it's

customary to give such a gift when

someone is doing something for you

that's one of his latest creations

godspeed you black punk oh

[Music]

during the factory visit show's brother

details how the ponco is produced

explains the different types as well as

shares tips on how to use it during

cooking

now it's time for the tasting what is

your favorite food

[Music]

are you going somewhere

[Music]

do you always have to eat lunch in the

truck

is a food that you don't eat just itself

but it's combined with other ingredients

to produce an end product like katsu

and fried fish so show works diligently

to understand his customers needs in

order to produce the highest quality

product possible to do this it's

critical for him to often meet with

customers to see how his punko is being

sure

the first stop is in the high-end area

of nishizawa

[Music]

the next stop is a wood-fired oven wagyu

steak restaurant for no initiative

what are you doing now

foreign

[Music]

not only does he deliver orders but he

also provides a private instructions at

the customer's request

he knows his panko better than anyone so

he's able to share detailed preparation

methods to chefs from high-end

restaurants to mom and pop tonkatsu

shops

in order to bring out the full potential

of his panco's taste and texture

during the instruction they use his

ichiko mix which is a blended powder to

coat food before dipping it into the egg

as well as special techniques on how to

produce a crispier and ultra textured

minty crust

[Music]

wow that looks so crispy you can even

see that the punko with added technique

produces a unique

spiky stalagmite-like crust

now back at the office he needs to

refocus on sales

wow it seems like he missed many calls

while he was out

after finishing his sales task he has a

strategy meeting with his brother about

new business opportunities

apparently they started an

anti-microbial and anti-virus coding

service for restaurants as well

yay finally finished

oh is it for the dusty

[Music]

[Applause]

ah so cute his girls sure miss daddy

he usually can't make it home on time to

have dinner with his family so he has

dinner alone but that karage his wife

made

sure looks good though and it looks like

his girls love to share in daddy's meal

[Music]

so after dinner show will probably go

and hang out with his family

take a bath play with his daughters and

probably then just go to sleep at 11 30.

so that's pretty much the day in life of

a japanese panko factory

owner what do you guys think let me know

in the comments if you guys

like this video help me out and hit that

like button and if you guys want to see

more videos like this in the live videos

hit that subscribe button and the bell

button and i'll catch you guys

in the next one