奇葩文化!上班睡覺成日本人勤奮象徵!

In most countries, sleeping on the job isn't just frowned upon, it may get you fired.

在大多數國家，工作時間睡覺不僅會讓人不滿，而且有可能讓你被炒魷魚。

But in Japan, napping in the office is common and culturally accepted. And in fact, it is often seen as a subtle sign of diligence: You must be working yourself to exhaustion.

但在日本，在辦公室打盹很常見，而且得到文化上的認可。事實上，它常被微妙的看作勤奮的象徵：你肯定是工作得太累了。

The word for it is "inemuri". It is often translated as "sleeping on duty", but Dr Brigitte Steger, a senior lecturer in Japanese studies at Downing College, Cambridge, who has written a book on the topic, says it would be more accurate to render it as "sleeping while present".

日語中稱呼這種行爲的詞彙是"inemuri"。它通常被翻譯爲"工作時間睡覺"，但劍橋大學唐寧學院日本研究的高級講師布里吉特·斯泰格博士稱，將它譯作"在場睡覺"會更準確。

That, she said, captures Japan's approach to time, where it's seen as possible to do multiple things simultaneously, if at a lower intensity.

她表示，這種翻譯表達出日本人對待時間的方式。在日本，人們認爲同時做多件事是有可能的，儘管專注度會降低。

So you can get credit for attending that boring quarterly sales meeting while also dreaming of a beach vacation.

所以你能夠一邊參加枯燥的季度銷售會議，一邊幻想海灘度假。

Inemuri is most prevalent among more senior employees in white-collar professions, Dr Steger said. Junior employees tend to want to stay awake all day and be seen as energetic, and workers on assembly lines can't just nod off.

斯泰格表示，Inemuri在高級白領中最爲普遍。初級職員往往想整天保持清醒，希望被看作充滿活力，而生產線上的工人根本沒法打盹。

Both sexes indulge in inemuri, but women are more likely to be criticised for it, especially if they sleep in a position that is considered unbecoming, Dr Steger said.

斯泰格還提到，兩種性別的人都喜歡inemuri，但女性更有可能因之受到指責，尤其是在一個"小睡會被視爲不得體"的職位上。

Inemuri has been practised in Japan for at least 1,000 years, and it is not restricted to the workplace. People may nap in department stores, cafes, restaurants or even a snug spot on a busy city sidewalk.

inemuri在日本已經存在了至少1000年，並且不限於工作場合。人們會在百貨公司、咖啡館、餐館，乃至熱鬧的人行道上溫暖舒適的地方小睡片刻。

"It's very unlikely, if you are sleeping on a train, that someone would try to rob you," said Dr Theodore C Bestor, a professor of social anthropology at Harvard University.

"你在車上睡覺時，不太可能出現打劫的情況，"哈佛大學社會人類學教授西奧多·C·貝斯特博士說道。