日本的“瞌睡文化”：上班睡覺(jué)也是正經(jīng)事

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

在大多數(shù)國(guó)家，工作時(shí)間睡覺(jué)不僅會(huì)讓人不滿，而且有可能讓你丟掉工作。

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(jiàn)，而且得到文化上的認(rèn)可。實(shí)際上，它經(jīng)常被看作勤奮的隱晦象征：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(yǔ)中稱(chēng)呼這種行為的詞匯是“inemuri”。它通常被翻譯為“工作時(shí)間睡覺(jué)”，但劍橋大學(xué)唐寧學(xué)院(Downing College, Cambridge)日本研究的高級(jí)講師布麗吉特·斯蒂格(Brigitte Steger)稱(chēng)，將它譯作“在場(chǎng)睡覺(jué)”(日文寫(xiě)作“居眠”——譯注)會(huì)更準(zhǔn)確。布麗吉特撰寫(xiě)了一本有關(guān)這個(gè)話題的著作。

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

她表示，這種翻譯表達(dá)出日本人對(duì)待時(shí)間的方式。在日本，人們認(rèn)為同時(shí)做多件事是有可能的，盡管專(zhuān)注度會(huì)降低。所以你一邊參加枯燥的季度銷(xiāo)售會(huì)議，一邊幻想海灘度假，也可以獲得好評(píng)。

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.

斯蒂格表示，居眠在高級(jí)白領(lǐng)中最為普遍。初級(jí)職員往往想整天保持清醒，希望被看作充滿活力，而生產(chǎn)線上的工人根本沒(méi)法打盹。

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

斯蒂格還提到，兩種性別的人都喜歡居眠，但女性更有可能因之受到指責(zé)，尤其是在一個(gè)小睡會(huì)被視為不得體的職位上。

Inemuri has been practiced 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.

居眠在日本已經(jīng)存在至少1000年，并且不限于工作場(chǎng)合。人們會(huì)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。

Sleeping in public is especially prevalent on commuter trains, no matter how crowded; they often turn into de facto bedrooms. It helps that Japan has a very low crime rate.

公共場(chǎng)所打盹的情況，在通勤列車(chē)上尤其常見(jiàn)，不管里面有多擁擠;那些地方往往會(huì)變成實(shí)際意義上的臥室。這得益于日本犯罪率非常低。

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

“你在車(chē)上睡覺(jué)時(shí)，不太可能出現(xiàn)打劫的情況，”哈佛大學(xué)社會(huì)人類(lèi)學(xué)教授泰奧多爾·C·貝斯特(Theodore C. Bestor)說(shuō)。

Sleeping in social situations can even enhance your reputation. Dr. Steger recalled a group dinner at a restaurant where the male guest of a female colleague fell asleep at the table. The other guests complimented his “gentlemanly behavior” — that he chose to stay present and sleep, rather than excuse himself.

在社交場(chǎng)合睡覺(jué)甚至可以提高你的聲譽(yù)。斯蒂格記得有一次在一家餐館聚餐，一位女性同事的男同伴趴在桌子上睡著了。其他客人稱(chēng)贊了他“紳士行為”——因?yàn)樗x擇留在那里休息，而不是先行離開(kāi)。

One reason public sleeping may be so common in Japan is because people get so little sleep at home. A 2015 government study found that 39.5 percent of Japanese adults slept less than six hours a night.

在公開(kāi)場(chǎng)合小睡在日本如此普遍的一個(gè)原因是，人們?cè)诩依锼X(jué)時(shí)間很少。2015年的一項(xiàng)政府調(diào)研顯示，39.5%的日本成年人每晚睡眠時(shí)間不足六個(gè)小時(shí)。

An unwritten rule of inemuri is to sleep compactly, without “violating spatial norms,” Professor Bestor said. “If you stretched out under the table in the office conference room, or took up several spaces on the train, or laid out on a park bench,” he said, that would draw reproach for being socially disruptive.

居眠不成文的規(guī)則是“占地不大”，不會(huì)“打破空間規(guī)范”，貝斯特教授說(shuō)。“如果你在會(huì)議室的辦公桌下躺著，在車(chē)上擠占了好幾個(gè)位置，或在公園長(zhǎng)椅上躺著，”他說(shuō)，那便會(huì)因?yàn)樵斐缮鐣?huì)干擾而引來(lái)指責(zé)。

Dr. Steger pointed out that closed eyes may not always equal shut-eye: A person may close them just to build a sphere of privacy in a society with little of it.

斯蒂格指出，閉眼可能并不總是意味著在睡覺(jué)：一個(gè)人閉上眼睛可能只是為了在沒(méi)什么隱私的社會(huì)構(gòu)建一個(gè)私人領(lǐng)域。

That’s part of why Dr. Steger said she could imagine inemuri waning in Japan. These days, smartphones can transport people to their own private zones with their eyes wide open.

斯蒂格表示，這也是她預(yù)計(jì)居眠在日本會(huì)逐漸減少的部分原因。如今，智能手機(jī)可以讓人們睜著眼進(jìn)入自己的私人空間。