Video: Inemuri - the art of the Japanese to sleep everywhere, always and under any circumstances
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
While falling asleep in the workplace is discouraged in most countries, or may even lead to job loss, in Japan, this behavior is not prohibited. It is not uncommon to see sleeping employees falling face down on their keyboard or a stack of working documents, and this will cause others not to sympathize and not outrage, but to some extent admiration: this person, apparently, worked so recklessly that he brought himself to complete depletion of strength.
And, in fact, this is most often the case - people really work so hard that they simply cannot get enough sleep at home. One study found that Japanese people are more prone to sleep disorders than other nations. On average, Japanese (men) sleep only 6 hours and 35 minutes at night, and therefore "sleep up sleepy" in public places: in transport, in parks, in cafes, in bookstores, in shopping centers, and, in principle, in any public place including work. This phenomenon has become so widespread that it even got its own name - "inemuri", which literally means something like "sleeping while present."
Dr. Brigitte Steger of the University of Cambridge, who studies inemuri culture, says: “I first encountered this intriguing attitude towards sleep during my first visit to Japan in the second half of the 1980s. Then there was an economic boom in Japan, everyday life was very chaotic. People literally filled their days to the brim with work and some kind of entertainment, leaving almost no time for sleep."
Then, after the Second World War, Japan earned itself a reputation as a nation of very hardworking people. And so it was (and still is) - people selflessly worked more than they were supposed to and studied at universities longer than the designated hours, which led to the fact that they regularly fell asleep on the way home or from home. It would seem that it is necessary to somehow solve such a problem, but for the Japanese it was not a problem - such behavior in the eyes of society was quite acceptable and even encouraged.
But this does not mean that any person sleeping in a public place is an inemuri. This phenomenon has its own rules. “It all depends on who you are,” says Brigitte Steger. - If you are new to the company, you need to prove yourself, show how actively you are involved in the life of the company, you cannot sleep. And if you are 40-50 years old and you do not work at the machine or something like that, you can fall asleep. In most cases, the older you are, the higher your position, the more rights you have to fall asleep at work."
The second rule is, in fact, "presence during sleep." “Even if you are disconnected, you have to show with all your appearance that it is accidental, that you are ready to turn back into work in the first second after waking up. Your body should signal that you are completely immersed in office life, just could not resist your desire to sleep. That is, you cannot crawl under the table and curl up there. You have to sit at tables with your head in your hands and pretend that you are listening carefully."
In addition, inemuri is always about a person who sleeps in an office suit. A beggar sleeping on a bench will not be considered "work-worn". And the most important thing is not to sleep in the presence of your boss. You can show your colleagues how hard and hard you work and how difficult it is for you to deal with human nature, which requires the body to rest, but in meetings, when your boss speaks or listens, be kind enough to pull yourself together and remain fully conscious.
Interestingly, in southern European countries, a similar phenomenon was approached from the other side - in Spain, Greece and Italy there is a long pause at lunchtime, which allows not only to hide from the heat at home, but also to sleep with a clear conscience, so that with renewed vigor in the evening again get to work. And some big companies such as Google, Apple, Nike, Opel, and Proctor & Gamble provide their employees with special rooms or units in which their employees can lie down to rest or sleep during the working day.
You can learn about what sampuru is and why the Japanese sell food that cannot be eaten from our article on this phenomenon.
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