Memo to Japan: Relax!
By Jim Hawe
Wall St. Journal
April 21, 2006

[Memo]
A Japanese businessman catches a few winks in Otemachi, Tokyo's financial district.

TOKYO -- Japanese businessmen could use a nap, that's for sure. Tokyo's familiar sights include office workers slumped fast asleep in their subway seats, or gulping down canned "energy drinks" full of sugar and caffeine. Recognizing that exhaustion can crimp workplace productivity, Japan's savvy entrepreneurs have started providing time and space for a little shut-eye during business hours.

Japanese hotels are renting out rooms by the hour, specifically for haggard businessmen to sneak in a quick nap between meetings. Among such lodgings is the aptly named "Hotel Siesta," established in 1997. Nestled in Tokyo's laidback Ebisu neighborhood, this hotel with tiny capsule-like rooms offers up beds during the daytime for just under the equivalent of $5 an hour. On Tokyo's east side there is the "Business Inn Pillow," which will let you rent a bed for three hours, any time between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m, for about $15.

Located just a few blocks away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo Station, one of the city's busiest transit points, is the "Good Sleep Salon Napia," providing the drowsy with sleep consultations and, more importantly, comfortable beds for quick naps. Tadaaki Kizu, Napia's director, said he hit upon the idea of providing sleep services when he realized that many of the patients coming to the two chiropractic clinics he also operates were not getting enough sleep. "When you are tired you naturally tend to slouch more in your seat, which is not good for your posture," he explained.

Mr. Kizu opened his Napia sleep salon two-and-a-half years ago, and now has roughly 500 registered "nap takers." He claims that a nap as short as 20 to 30 minutes in the afternoon can do wonders for "resetting" both the mind and body, leaving you refreshed, stimulated and ready to dive back into the work waiting on your desk.

The idea of taking a Spanish-style siesta during the hectic business day is a revolutionary idea in Japan. This is, after all, a nation whose language has a special term, karoshi, for "working until the point of death."

According to data released by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 860 worker compensation claims were registered in 2004, involving disorders with blood vessels in the brain, heart problems and other ailments associated with the onset of karoshi, a 10% increase from the previous year. These claims included 335 fatalities, up from 319 in the previous year.

The larger problem is that Japan's long hours often have little to do with the actual work load. Many Japanese stay at the office to put in "face time." They sit at their desks because they are afraid to be seen leaving before their colleagues or bosses, many of whom are sitting at their desks for exactly the same reason. Work hours are often extended by frequent and unnecessary meetings. Furthermore, businessmen often feel pressured to go out drinking with colleagues or superiors until late into the night, regardless of how early they need to get up the next day.

Now, private companies aren't the only ones aware of Japan's sleep-deprivation epidemic. The government is also trying to help. A study conducted by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology concluded that a 15 to 20-minute catnap in the afternoon could really perk up worker productivity. The ministry even assembled an "Optimal Sleep Study Group" that compiled a list of "Proper Techniques for Taking a Nap." Is this really the best way to spend Japanese taxpayer money?

So far, Tokyo has stopped short of officially encouraging schools and offices to provide nap times, leaving it up to new businesses to provide quiet spots for a mid-day siesta. A far more ideal solution would be for individual companies to boost workplace efficiency. This would allow Japanese businessmen to go home at a reasonable time, and get to sleep in their own beds.

Mr. Hawe is a writer at Dow Jones Newswires' Tokyo bureau.