Japanese People Sleeping In Public

In the UK, and most other Western countries, if you see someone sleeping in public, you assume they are either drunk or homeless. Occasionally, you’ll catch people napping on the train, but most folk try to avoid that, just in case they snore, dribble or twitch embarrassingly.

In Japan, however, a snooze among the populous isn’t so frowned upon. During the 80s, sleep became the domain of the weak. A popular advertising slogan sums up the vibe in a wonderfully Japanese fashion:

“Can you battle through 24 hours? / Businessman! Businessman! Japanese businessman!”

Sleeping in public even has its own word – “inemuri” – roughly translated as “sleeping but present.”

Nodding off during a meeting at work is not something a British boss would take lightly, but, in Japan, it is seen as a sign of dedication to your job; they assume you have worked yourself into a state of stupor.

Sleep is a complicated social construct. It is, of course, an entirely natural and essential thing to do, but the way different societies view it differs greatly. Staying up late is “cool,” getting up early is what old people do. At least, that’s how it goes in British society. Everywhere has different emotions towards it.

For instance, in the UK, parents generally let their children sleep in a separate room pretty much as soon as they are born. In Japan, sleeping in the same room as your parents is the norm until school age.

However you view sleep, I thoroughly enjoyed looking through these photos of Japanese people sleeping in public places; enjoy: