Napping in Public? In Japan, That’s a Sign of Diligence
當眾打盹 日本的微妙勤奮指標
By BRYANT ROUSSEAU

In most countries, sleeping on the job isn’t just frowned upon, it may get you fired.
在多數國家，工作時睡覺不僅會惹人反感，還可能讓你丟掉飯碗。

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.
然而在日本，在辦公室打盹則司空見慣，而且是文化上能被接受的行為。事實上，它往往被視為勤奮的微妙標誌：你一定是工作到筋疲力竭了。

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.”
代表上述行為的詞彙為「inemuri」（日文指居眠之意）。它通常被翻譯為「上班時睡覺」，但曾著書探討這個題目的劍橋大學唐寧學院日本研究高級講師布麗吉特·史泰格表示，將它譯為「出席時睡覺」會更準確。

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，這翻譯表達了日本對待時間的方式，當地認為若工作強度較低時，同時做多樣事情是可能的。因此，你可以因為一邊參加無聊的季度銷售會議，一邊幻想著海灘度假而得到好評。

Inemuri is most prevalent among more senior employees in white-collar professions, 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.
史泰格說，居眠行為在白領職業的較高級職員中最為普遍。低階職員則傾向於整天保持清醒，以顯得充滿活力，生產線上的工人則完全不能打盹。

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, Steger said.
史泰格並指出，男女兩性都沉溺於居眠行為，但女性更有可能因此受到指責，尤其是她們打盹時的姿態被認為不雅時。

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.
居眠在日本至少已有千年歷史，且不限於工作場所。人們可能會在百貨公司、咖啡館、餐廳或甚至是人來人往的城市人行道上的舒適處打個盹。

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.
公共場所睡覺，在通勤列車上尤為常見，無論車上多麼擁擠；車上經常變得形同臥房，而日本犯罪率很低也助長了這種情形。

“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.
哈佛大學社會人類學教授西奧多‧貝斯特說：「你在車上睡覺，極不可能會有人試圖搶劫你的財物。」

Sleeping in social situations can even enhance your reputation. 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.
在社交場合睡覺甚至可以提高你的聲譽。史泰格憶起有次在一家餐廳聚餐，有位女同事的男客人趴在桌上睡著了。其他客人卻稱讚他的「紳士行為」，因為他選擇留在現場睡覺，而非藉故離開。

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.
公共場合睡覺在日本如此常見，一個原因是人們在家裡睡得很少。2015年政府的調查發現，39.5%日本成年人每晚睡不到6小時。

An unwritten rule of inemuri is to sleep compactly, without “violating spatial norms,” 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.
貝斯特表示，居眠的不成文規定是少占地方，不要「違反空間規範」。他說：「若你在會議室辦公桌下伸直躺著，或在火車上占了好幾個位置，又或者是躺在公園長椅上」，這會因擾亂社會秩序而引來指責。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/world/what-in-the-world/japan-inemuri-public-sleeping.html

2017-01-29．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷譯

說文解字看新聞 陳韋廷

在特有民族性格與文化教育的薰陶下，上班打瞌睡在日本被頌揚為工作勤奮的表現，更被認為是值得尊敬的，而不分場合，總能入睡的「居眠」文化也成為日本社會特殊現象。居眠指的是坐著，或在工作時打盹，意思不同於睡覺。

nap意指「打盹」、「小睡」，跟doze、snooze、nod、catnap等字意思相同，這些單字常跟動詞take搭配使用，如take a catnap、take a snooze等等。此外，一般鬧鐘的「貪睡」功能就是用snooze這個單字。

片語get credit for則指的是「因...而獲得好評」的意思，介系詞for後接得到好評的原因，因...而給予讚揚則為give credit for。例句：Should Trump get a big credit for SoftBank’s plan to invest $50B in US tech startups?（川普應該因軟銀投資美國新創公司500億美元的計畫而記上一大功嗎？）

居眠文化除反映日本人崇尚勤奮工作的態度外，多少也可看作日本勞動過度的證據，而打瞌睡或許不失為緩解疲勞的手段，但歸根究柢還是得解決睡眠不足的問題，否則日本過勞死的現象可能更趨嚴重。

Boomerang Boom: More Firms Tapping the Skills of the Recently Retired
退休人士 成公司人力雇用新寵
By CHRISTOPHER FARRELL

Call them boomerang retirees: people who exit gracefully after their career at a company, then return shortly afterward to work there part time.
凡在一家公司結束職涯優雅退休，不久後又回去做部分工時工作者，我們稱為回力鏢退休人士。

More and more companies are establishing formal programs to facilitate this, for reasons that benefit the employer and the retiree. Leaving a satisfying job cold-turkey for a life of leisure can be an abrupt jolt to people accustomed to feeling purposeful, earning money and enjoying their colleagues. From the corporate perspective, it is useful to have experienced hands who can train younger people, pass along institutional wisdom and work with fewer strings attached.
愈來愈多公司正設置正式計畫來推動這項工作，因為這對雇主和退休者兩利。就此辭別一份令人滿意的工作去過悠哉的生活，對於習慣於有目的感，能賺錢，以及享受同事情誼的人來說，可能是個突然的震撼。而從企業角度來看，讓有經驗的老手訓練年輕人、傳承制度智慧及以較少的工作附帶條件是很有用處的。

“People in the U.S. define themselves by their work, and they like their co-workers,” said Roselyn Feinsod, senior partner in the retirement practice at the human resources firm Aon Hewitt, the human resources consultancy. Thus, unlike many retirees from past generations, people from the blue-collar and white-collar sectors are more eager to retain ties to the familiar working world that they enjoyed (and sometimes loathed).
怡安翰威特人力資源顧問公司的退休業務資深合夥人羅絲琳‧費恩薩德說：「美國人透過自身工作來定義自己，而且喜歡他們的同事。」因此，跟許多過去世代退休人士不同的是，藍領與白領階層的人更渴望與他們所喜歡（有時也厭惡）的孰悉工作世界保持聯繫。

Mark Keefe, who spent his career as a human resources manager at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey, retired in 2014, when he was 66. Since his wife still worked, he took on household chores and cooked evening meals. “It was really a time to relax,” he said.
馬克‧基夫職涯中一直擔任紐澤西州薩米特市照護醫學中心的人力資源經理，2014年退休，當時他66歲。由於妻子仍在工作，他承擔了家務與做晚飯的工作。他說：「這真是個可以放鬆的時光。」

But the company that owns Overlook, Atlantic Health Systems of Morristown, New Jersey, is among the growing ranks of employers that sponsor a formal program to invite retirees back into the workforce, for no more than 1,000 hours per year. The company’s Alumni Club – formerly known as the 1,000 Hour Club – was established in 2006, and about 300 Atlantic Health retirees are on the company’s payroll in various capacities. “They’re engaged employees; they’re productive,” said Lesley Meyer, Atlantic Systems’ manager of corporate human resources. “They’re a stable talent pool.”
不過，該醫學中心的母公司，紐澤西州摩瑞斯郡的大西洋醫療系統，則是不斷擴大的一個雇主行列的一員，這些雇主正式推出邀請退休員工重返岡位，每年工作不超過1000小時的計畫。該公司的校友俱樂部（前稱1000小時俱樂部）成立於2006年，目前約有300名大西洋醫療退休員工在不同職務上支領該公司薪水。大西洋系統的公司人力資源經理雷思麗‧梅爾說：「他們是很投入的員工；他們具有生產力。他們是個穩定的人才庫。」

Starting in March 2015, Keefe began putting on a suit and tie and returning to work every Wednesday. He taps his human resources experience to counsel employees who are nearing retirement about benefit packages.
自2015年3月開始，基夫每周三穿西裝打領帶回去工作。他以他的人力資源經驗向即將退休的員工提供有關各種福利方案的諮詢。

The soon-to-be-retired always have plenty of questions, and Keefe enjoys offering them information and guidance, including insights gleaned from his own experience. “I look at it this way: I have a six-day weekend,” he said. “I love it.”
即將退休的人總是有很多問題，而基夫喜歡向他們提供資訊和指引，包括汲取自親身經驗的深刻見解。他說：「我是這麼看待它，我有長達六天的周末，我很喜歡。」

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/business/retirement/boomerang-boom-more-firms-tapping-the-skills-of-the-recently-retired.html

2017-01-29．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷譯