Naps popular with Japanese office workers (just not always in the nap room)

Sleep cafés offer refuge for the overworked

Today's expression: Kick in
Explore more: Lesson #194
September 30, 2019:

A new trend in Japan's hard-charging, competitive office culture: reserving the nap room for a 30-minute break. Sleep cafes are opening in Tokyo and some companies are installing nap rooms in their offices, encouraging workers to get a short break during the day. But not all office workers like napping in a dedicated space. Many prefer to just nod off at their desks. Plus, learn the English phrasal verb "kick in."

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Tired at the office? Try reserving the nap room

Hi everyone, how are you? It’s Jeff. I’m awake, alert, and ready to read this episode. I took a power nap just a few minutes ago and I’m ready to power through recording two episodes and two video lessons. And that’s the topic for today’s episode: power naps. Specifically, taking naps in sleep-deprived Japan. It was fun preparing this episode and I think you’ll enjoy it. The phrasal verb today is “kick in” and we have a quote of the week, since it’s Monday.

This is episode 194 of Plain English. All the resources for today’s episode can be found at PlainEnglish.com/194. The video lesson is about using the words “up to” to describe time periods and the flash cards are all about sleep.

If you’d like to get the free episode resources with each episode, then you’ll want to sign up for our free email list by going to PlainEnglish.com/mail . Those of you already on the list will get a great bonus word today: “slack off.” So check your mailboxes for that. If you’re not on the list, you’re missing out on extra English words, expressions, et cetera, which we only send out by email. Sign up to get those at PlainEnglish.com/mail.


Japanese workers sneak a nap at the office

There’s a new trend in hard-charging, sleep-deprived Japan: taking naps mid-day. Sleeping on the job is one of the biggest workplace taboos. If you’re being paid to do a job, you don’t want to be seen asleep during working hours. But now some companies in Japan are waking up to the benefit of a power nap.

Nestle, which makes the Nescafé coffee popular in Japan, has opened a café called Suimin Café in an office building near a popular commuter train station. At Suimin Café, you can reserve a nap room for 30 minutes. The rooms have comfortable beds, leather recliners, and dim lighting. You can even choose the firmness of the mattress and pillows: now that’s personal service! For 750 yen, or about $7, you can have a cup of coffee and take a 30 minute nap. Why coffee? The caffeine takes about 30 minutes to kick in. So by the time you wake up from your half-hour nap, you get the double benefit of a power nap plus the effect of caffeine.

If 30 minutes isn’t quite enough for you, you can reserve a room for up to three hours. That includes the coffee after you wake up. Prior to opening Suimin Café, Nestle experimented with the concept in other parts of Tokyo. They proved very popular.

Companies that are already in the sleep business are also getting into the mix. Airweave, a bedding maker based in Tokyo, partnered with a massage company to offer a nap-massage combo.

It’s one thing to step away from the office and grab a half-hour of shut-eye. But what if you could do it at the office? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Japan’s famously competitive office culture is starting to loosen up a little bit and provide nap rooms for employees.

Neurospace is a company that makes sleep gear especially for companies. One of its customers is Mitsubishi Estate Co., a real estate developer. They moved offices last year and established two nap rooms: one for men, one for women. After a while at their new digs, the company surveyed employees and found that employees’ focus and motivation improved after naps. You can schedule one of the six nap rooms with overstuffed recliners with an online calendar.

IT company Nextbeat established nap rooms with sofas and relaxing fragrances. The rooms are sound-insulated to block distractions from outside. Importantly, no computers or smartphones can be used in the nap rooms, so you can really get your power nap without distractions. One company representative said that napping is as important to workers’ physical and mental health as diet and exercise.

The government of Fukuoka, a city in southwestern Japan, has a clever promotion. They’re working with a local bedding company to promote the idea of taking company-sanctioned short naps at work. They’re giving away blankets with a hood and the words, “Charging now” written on the outside. They gave away 1,000 blankets in a single day.

The best way to take a power nap at work, according to one expert, is to fall asleep again about six hours after waking up the first time, sleeping for no more than 30 minutes, and not lying down completely. A power nap, by the way, is when you fall asleep for just a few minutes and wake up much more refreshed. That’s different from a longer, deeper sleep, which can leave you groggy and less productive when you wake up. Japanese has a word for an even lighter level of sleep: inemuri, which means just nodding off for a minute or two. It literally means “sleeping while present.” So now you have a new word. If you fall asleep at work and someone catches you, you can say you weren’t napping at all. You were merely “sleeping while present!”

The average Japanese person gets six hours and fifteen minutes of sleep per night, according to a study by the OECD, a group of developed nations. That’s an entire hour per night less than in the US, and it contributes to a serious sleep deficit. Japanese office culture is unusually competitive, with workers often staying at the office late—even if they’re not working, they like to be seen at the office.

Some office workers in Japan won’t make use of the nap rooms. Pre-scheduling a nap, some say, is slacking off. But that doesn’t mean they won’t take naps. No, no: instead, these workers will fall asleep at their desks. Instead of being seen as lazy, falling asleep with your head on your desk is a badge of honor. You were working so hard, you simply passed out. Remember Mitsubishi Estate, one of the companies that established nap rooms for employees? The chief executive, Junichi Yoshida, hasn’t used them. He, too, prefers a more traditional office nap: by sleeping in his desk chair.


I have long advocated taking a power nap in the middle of the day. I understand the taboo. You don’t want to be seen sleeping at work. But, let me ask you this. Which is lazier, staying awake and being less productive or grabbing a power nap, boosting your productivity, and possibly even staying later because you have more energy?

We do not have a nap room at my office. I will admit to taking a power nap at the office. It works wonders for me. I probably only actually sleep at work maybe once every three months, but when I need it, just 10 minutes is enough to improve my focus and concentration for the rest of the day.

I have an announcement, which is way overdue, but I need to welcome a new member of the Plain English team, and that is Katrin from Germany. About a month or two ago, we added support for German to our interactive translations on the web site, and Katrin is the one who does those translations for each episode. So for all of you in Germany, check out PlainEnglish.com/sample and you can see how the interactive translations work. Here’s how it works in a nutshell. You listen to the audio and read along with the transcript. When you come to a highlighted word, you just hover over it with your mouse, and it shows you the translation into German. And unlike some other places on the web, these are not simply Google Translate translations. These are translated and certified by Katrin, so you know you’re getting the right context. This is available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and now finally in German. That was overdue, given how many listeners we have in Germany. The translations are included in the Plain English Plus+ membership, and like I said, you can see how this all works at PlainEnglish.com/sample .

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Expression: Kick in