Japanology Plus Sleep

As revealed by a 2016 survey of OECD member nations, the average Japanese citizen sleeps less each night than people in most other economically developed nations. However, there are grounds for thinking that a lot of these sleep-deprived people make up for lost ground in the daytime. Board any train in Japan, and there's a good chance that at least one or two people in the same carriage will be fast asleep. In fact, it's not especially unusual to see most of an entire row of seven or eight people in a carriage asleep or nodding off ("rowing the boat" is the phrase used in Japanese for the way the upper body jerks back from time to time as slumber descends). Don't be startled if the head of the person sitting next to you suddenly comes to rest on your shoulder as your neighbor enters "suya-suya" snooze mode. "Guu-guu" sleep, with its implication of snoring, is somewhat more unusual on the train, but some passengers may seem to be sleeping so soundly ("gussuri") that it can be hard to understand how in many cases they manage to spring to life when they arrive at their stop.