Land of the Rising Mickey
Page 2 of 2

Oh yeah, Radio Exercises... If you're from another planet and don't know what I'm talking about (Everyone knows what Radio Exercises are!!), they're called that because three times a day, since the beginning of time, NHK Radio (and once a day on NHK Education TV) has broadcast the same two five minute piano songs that go along with a set routine of stretches and exercises. Over the music a man leads everyone in the routine. At the site we only do the first song, but the routine for both songs was drilled into me and everyone here when we were children.

We do the exercises in a large open area called Cape Cod, where a guy leads them from a little stage. The front of the S.S. Columbia is directly to our left, the empty "sea" leading to Port Discovery is to our right, Cape Cod is behind us, and we face in the direction of Tokyo Bay. I wish I could do the exercises in Area 3's other area. It's much closer to my company's little room. Eventually, when they fill up the sea, the Cape Cod exercise area will be covered with water. Actually, if everything was going according to the original plan, we should have been underwater today. The sea was supposed to be filled up in December, but now the goal is to do it by the beginning of February. No one seems to know where we're going to exercise after that. We're also wondering how we're going to get around. The soon to be sea is sometimes the only way to get from one place to another.

Anyway, there were 608 of us out there at Cape Cod today. I know that because every day after exercises we all move up closer to the little stage for the "Morning Safety Assembly". The guy who leads the Radio Exercises then passes along the current weather and temperature forecast for the day. When it's especially cold he warns us that everyone should stretch a little more right before they actually start working.

Then a higher up guy takes the stage. I'm pretty sure he works for Shimizu. Shimizu is OLC's main contractor on the project and they supervise the other contractors. His first order of business is to announce the beginning of roll call. Then, one by one, he calls out they name of each contractor and a supervisor from each one announces the name of their company and how many of their people are present that day. During the roll call someone adds up the numbers with a calculator and at the end of it he announces the total number of workers present at this day's morning assembly. Each of the four areas has it's own assembly and, again, ours has two. I'm told that on a normal day the total number construction workers on the entire DisneySea project is about two thousand. Because everything is behind schedule OLC has been adding a lot of people lately, so that number keeps getting bigger.

Next it's time for the safety advisory. The guy from Shimizu tells us which areas of the site we should stay away from that day because they may be dangerous or damaged by our actions. Today he warned us to stay clear of S.S. Columbia because the scaffolding is being taken down, then he told us not to walk across Bridge # 1 (the metal cantilever one that leads from New York to Cape Cod) because they're pouring cement, and also to avoid the area near the offices and parking lot because they'll be using a crane to plant some big trees on the berm that separates Mediterranean Harbor from Arabian Coast.

Today, unlike most days, the supervisors' spokesman made an announcement. Each company has it's main on-site supervisor. Those supervisors get together every so often. Together they choose a spokesman to make announcements of interest to the other supervisors. They speak to the assembled workers only when they have something specific to tell all the supervisors. Today he told the other supervisors to be sure to put on their blue DisneySea jackets right after the meeting because they would be taking a group picture.

Then someone else with Shimizu took the stage. He speaks pretty much every day. He represents the inspectors. Today he reported on the quality of the work and neatness of ... my area! I'm happy to report that we passed with flying colors. He pointed out that our work area was neat and we're following proper safety procedures. What a relief. Those inspectors don't have any qualms about spelling out the problems they find in an area. It's pretty embarrassing having it announced to everyone that you're not doing your job right.

Then it's time for Sprechchor. I'm not sure why it's called Sprechchor. It doesn't really make sense. In Japan we use the word "sprechchor" to to describe a chant people might do at some sort of protest or rally. (Sprechchor is actually German and is defined as "yelling a slogan in chorus".) It makes a little bit of sense for what we do at the end, but mainly it's safety check time. We pair off and do a visual inspection of a coworker while he does the same for us. We check helmet, helmet strap, harness (if any), shoes (we have to wear the shoes that our company provides for us), clothes (are they safe and, this time of year, warm?), and finally, face color. We're checking the face to see if our coworker looks healthy and alert. It's pretty rare that anyone actually does. It's cold, it's early, and we're all working six and seven days a week. We're ok, though.

The assembly ends with the six hundred of us each raising one arm into the air and giving a loud cheer of "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Then we're off to our respective work sites.

In our next episode - Yamata-san begins his work day at Mysterious Island and almost gets himself in a little trouble!

Jikai made - ogenki de!
(Until next time - Take care!)

-- Marc Borrelli

© Marc Borrelli and LaughingPlace.com. All rights reserved

-- Posted December 4, 2000