Napping at work isn’t acceptable in the UK, but in Japan dozing anywhere from Parliament to business meetings is allowed. It’s called inemuri, which literally means “to be asleep while present”.

Japan’s ex-prime minister shows how it’s done

The custom is partly a result of how commitment to a job is judged in Japan, says Dr Brigitte Steger. Inemuri is viewed as exhaustion from working hard and sacrificing sleep at night. Many people fake it to look committed to their job.

It’s a concept that seems bizarre in the UK but the Japanese are the ones who’ve got it right, says Dr Stanley.

“The Japanese are right in their assessment that you work better after a nap than before it. There’s a degree of machismo about it, you’re saying look how hard I’ve worked. But that’s better than the macho rituals we have over here, like how late you can send a work email to prove how long you’ve been working.”

Strict rules apply to inemuri. These include who is allowed to do it - only those high up or low down in a company - and how you do it - remain upright to show you are still socially engaged in some way.

Junichiro Koizumi looks a little like my grandma in that photo.

Inemuri sounds like a good idea. Napping in general is a good idea. However, can I really nap while sitting up? My friends tell me that I am a stealthy napper, but I’m not sure if they’re saying it out of kindness.

During this semester, I have really long days on Tuesday and Thursday. Since my promise to myself to sleep at least eight hours a night - so far, I’ve pulled no all-nighters and get about seven to eight hours, six if I have a lot of work piled up - I noticed that I can make it through the day. During my late afternoon class - 4:15pm-5:30pm - I will get sleepy but I won’t fall asleep.

If I don’t get eight hours, I let myself fall asleep for about ten minutes and wake up. I feel somewhat less sleepy; not totally refreshed but reassured that I won’t fall asleep again. This is a larger class, so I’m not sure how my technique will transfer to smaller classes or seminars.
Links of Interest:
Napping in the office, unseen (flakmag)
Blogging about Inemuri (in media res)
Sleep and obesity in kids (new york times)
Sleep-Industrial complex (new york times)
Those lazy French (new york times)

It was a nice honest gesture but you could have replaced them with some chips or something. I like Fritos.

I don’t read German, but the photos should be enough to get you started. Actually I do speak a little German but that’s currently limited to “Wie getz?” (What’s up?) and “Töten Sie!!” (Kill them!!) and since the latter phrase isn’t all that useful in everyday conversation outside of a dungeon, it’s not really enough German to get by.

For this project, I’m assuming that the tea is a substitute for that blue toilet bowl stuff:

And not just another creative way to make potable tea. I could go with tea-scented toilet bowls.

I particularly like this one because I’m always ALWAYS cracking my skull against the window whilst catching a few winks on buses and cars:

And this one is just plain silly:

Gute Nacht, meinen Freunden!

It’s been too long, my friend

However, walking was good because I’m currently trying to break in my new jeans. Ten dollars of vintage-like goodness, these fifties-style dungarees. They’re about two sizes too small, but this particular brand tends to stretch out badly. But as I’m wearing them, I’m wondering if that was just true for their stretch jeans.

No bánh mì. NO BAHN MI. I was crushed. I was crushed furthermore when I walked outside and was immediately pelted by little balls of ice. They were opaque and white and reminded me of Dippin’ Dots. Dippin’ Dots used as a weapon, that is.

Sadly, hail does not come in chocolate or mint. It has only one flavor: Ozone.

It hailed my entire walk back home and stopped right when I stepped into the backyard. What? I did return with two cans of basil seed drink, a package of firm tofu, and one box of Golden Curry, medium-hot. I love Japanese curry. It’s more like sodium-loaded spicy gravy than anything else, but by gum, I sure do love it with rice. Especially after being stoned by God.

Somehow, I ended up cooking enough for four instead of two. Two carrots, two small yellow onions, three small red potatos = I am bad at judging proportions. I’m really good at measuring just enough rice though. Oh well, pre-made lunch tomorrow!

Elijah Wood is a fine example of Ziploc abuse

Big Bags come in two sizes:
- Xtra Large`(2 feet x 1.7 feet)
- XXtra Large (2.7 feet x 2 feet)
Besides their size, Ziploc says that the BBs are also more durable, so instead of potato crisps and cookies, you can pack things like soccer balls and sleeping bags. I doubt that the woman on the box can really hold all that stuff with one hand.

If I still played soccer or weren’t banned from sleepovers this would make sense. But the first thing that came to my mind was, “Hey, these things are great for storing loose body parts! Neatly!”

BZBB (Before Ziploc Big Bags), serial killers and first-timer murderers were only able to stow incriminating evidence messily, often leading to being found out and incarcerated.
But now you can forget the closet and store those skeletons in Big Bags without a mess with almost ridiculous ease! After popping in those bones, just slide and zip for a leak-proof seal!

Remember, you didn’t get this idea from me.

Lots of things going on; I’m in the process of installing Movable Type as a way to archive whatever it is I have to archive. I don’t want this to become a blog entirely, so I’ll actually have to learn some real code on my own. Being able to categorize things neatly is a real dream of mine, and being able to conjure them up with bits of code would be like manna from heaven. Or just really superb.

At the moment, I feel that MT will allow me to document technical changes to the site, allow me to update more easily with annoucements, and generate useful feedback from readers.