Student Apartment [Student Cafeteria Cooking Assistant] Job in Central Tokyo

I saw a job posting for a 'student cafeteria cooking assistant' and decided to apply and give it a try.
Maybe I'll get to eat something if there are leftovers?

The image of the student cafeterias of the past doesn't seem to exist at all in today's universities.


For starters, it's an apartment with live-in dorm parents, providing breakfast and dinner six days a week, and it comes furnished with appliances.

Since rent is high in Tokyo, is 60,000 to 100,000 yen for a private room (4.5 tatami mats and up) including meals considered a bargain!?

It's only a two-and-a-half-hour shift starting early at 6:30 AM (1,500 yen per hour), so it's not much money.
I'm interested in it, and I can endure anything if it's for a short time.
Also, since work ends at 9:00 AM, I can make effective use of the rest of the day.

The kitchen is run by one elderly man.
I am taught the simple job duties.

From just before 7:00 AM, male and female students trickle in, take their trays and chopsticks, and I just plate up things like simmered fish, rolled omelets, and natto, and hand them over from the counter.

Rice and miso soup are self-service with free refills, so I don't have to do anything for those.
Of course, greeting them with a 'Good morning!' is also important.

If there is extra time, I wash cooking utensils and the returned dishes (there is also an automatic dishwasher/dryer).
Furthermore, I also go out to check if there is enough rice, miso soup, chopsticks, forks, and bowls.

Even though it's a student apartment, it feels like a clean and luxurious hotel.
A TV was playing, but everyone was eating alone while looking at their smartphones.
I was surprised that not a single person was talking! There is absolutely no interaction.

Since it's early in the morning, I can understand that it's tough to eat at the same time even if you have friends in the same apartment.
However, I never imagined such a quiet dining scene.

Also, even though parents are going out of their way to provide meals with nutrition in mind, there are quite a few people who leave almost everything and don't eat it.
Naturally, there are also many students who don't show up to the cafeteria at all.

We check who came to eat, but we don't check if they ate everything. I feel sorry for the parents.

[ Wandering around in admiration! ]
If you live here, you are guaranteed two meals a day even if you are broke, so you will almost never have trouble with food.
*Meals are not provided on Sundays and holidays.

In the past, people often said, 'Seek hardship while you are young, even if you have to buy it.'
However, times have changed.

And the thing I felt the most is that everyone 'lacks energy!'
There is no need to be energetic in the cafeteria, but too many students mumble when they talk to me!

These are students from rural areas whose universities are too far from their parents' homes.
It seems that first-year students, especially freshmen, are given priority for moving in.

For now, it is possible to try living here for a year and move out if it doesn't suit you.
There is even data suggesting that the dropout rate for those living here is about 1/3 of the normal rate!

I, an old man, would like to live here too.
Also, there were no staff meals. Sigh...