Japanese Construction Dudes 

So the baggy pants they issued in Japan is called Sagyou yoh nikkaboka or nickerboker in English. They were originally used by dutch settlers in NYC as a construction trousers century ago. Until a half century later the contruction workers here in US transitioned to wearing denim (jeans) and boots for better protection. It was also until then Japan also decided to implement nickerboker in contruction sites because they had to work with climbing over scalfolding and lots crouching, hence it provided better mobility. The shoes they were wearing is called tobi shoes, you can think about them of wearing a mitten with a rubber sole on your foot. There were rumors saying that said almost 9/10 percent of Japanese people can pick up objects from the floor using their own foot. I just hope you learned something new here.

That RU-vid Algorithm. So these scaffold guys are wearing safety gear if you notice that they have body belts and they have safety hooks to tie off to structure. In the US those types of fall protection systems are banned under OSHA regulations for the type of work they are performing.

I'm a local union ironworker from the United states (local 27 utah). Im fascinated by other trades in foriegn countries. It's my dream to do a job in a foreign country.

Around here they cover buildings when they're doing extensive facade work, like using pneumatic drills to get off old brick- it catches the bits that might fly off randomly, or sandblasting, to keep the sand from messing up neighboring properties. But that's only every so often, not every time there's scaffolding.

I've talked to a Japanese Equipment and Safety officer who was working with my Dad when we have a project on a big bridge here in my hometown(Da Nang, Viet Nam). He did explain to me the uses of the baggy pant and "ninja" shoes. The pants are made from thick jean or canvas which are not having stretch at all for safety purpose (preventing scratch and cuts). Also worker have to climb up and down, sitting, squatting, lifting and moving stuffs a lot, so that the pant MUST be baggy to give rooms for such movements. The uniform also have a "Shin brace" , also called "gaitor", that are similar to the US ww2 uniform, to keep the pant snuck fit from the knee down to ankle. But still left plenty of room from the hip down to knee area. This design actually really old and can be seen everywhere, especially on military uniforms, where free of movement and protection is required. You can check the Uniform of soldier of world war 1+2 and the era before that. The "ninja" shoes or Tobi shoes are very common is Japan. To the point that most primary schools have such shoes include in the uniform. Growing up with Tobi shoes, "normal" Western safety shoes can be really hard to wear because the toes area are much smaller than Tobi shoes (which allow the big toes to move around freely). The shoes are also dirt cheap (less than 50$ / pairs) compare to other type of shoes. As you mentioned about how they could "grip" the ground, the shoes have thin rubber outsole allowing the user to feel the ground more effectively. It's the shoes that force the user to be more environmental awareness since it have zero protection from falling objects or stepping on sharp debris on the ground. The baggy pant just to give more room to the user to move a round without the need of flexible material. Also the shoes does help the user become more stable because these shoes have so minimum protection that its similar to wear nothing. The user's feet have to adapt to such harsh environment and become stronger.

Ive work in japan as steel fixer in 3yrs. And ive learnd a lot but i thing i amaze most they are freak in work

from the same place that has checklists for train drivers to leave a stop

im a scafolder in japan and yes scafolder here in japan are so awsome but in the same time its very fucking dangerous,and stressfull bcuz most of scafolder here are former outlaws

That is the same in NYC the Scaffolding that goes up to protect the people below on the sidewalk, they just throw boards up to the guy on top. And it's basically the reverse when they take it down. On a side note I actually saw some sites with a Sound Decibel dB meter attached to the outside of the construction site.

That's amazing and terrifying at the same time.

This shirt is so awesome. Looks amazing on you, Eric. :) It's crazy how less that constuction worker care about safety. :o Maybe it has something to do with the narow places they have to work at.

OSHA has entered the chat

They're called Tabi boots.

the nets are to catch flying debris. its either horizontal or vertical.

thats interesting! you always hear about the stereotypical japanese businessman, but not the dudes who build the city

I think the construction company tell the workers to wear safety gear but it's not comfortable to work with wearing them. So this real life Spiderman, without safety gear.

Wish I could comment a picture. I do this every day but on sand.

did you notice how close the scaffling is to the power line.

We do the same in California with only 1 difference, we have a guy on every other jump not every jump like on this video

I hope there's a law in Japan that prohibits climbing a construction site without wearing safety gear.