Every country or culture values sleep in different ways. Japan’s concept of sleep is very unique and interesting. The average amount of sleep that Japanese people get per day is 6 hours and 15 minutes. This is ranked second lowest in the world. The countries that sleep the most are France and the Netherlands, with more than 8 hours.

Working overtime until the last train, or staying up and studying until midnight is seen as “hard work.” Late night working and studying may not be efficient and may have negative impacts on the brain. However, employees who dedicate their personal sleeping hours to work for the company are praised, and studying through the night displays how much effort you put into education. So, naturally students and workers, children and adults are sleepy during the day. In a typical Japanese classroom, you will find at least one or two students falling asleep during class. Also, if you get on a train, there are always a few people drifting off.

Spain has siesta, and Japan has hirune. The literal translation is daytime-sleep, but the concept is quite different from siestas. Hirune is not a part of a daily routine. Some people who have nothing better to do, sleep after lunch for as long as they want. A busy person would not have the time to take these. Instead, busy people would take a kamin. Kamin means deliberate short sleep. Sleep deprived people who want to focus later in the day take these in order to freshen up. Another type of short sleep is inemuri. This kind of sleep is usually unintended. Students sleeping during class is typical inemuri. If these students were to sleep during breaks, that would be kamin. Though they only have a slight difference in meaning, Japanese people use these three kinds of short sleep to express the type of sleep they had. The concept of sleep is different depending on culture, and sleep powerfully impacts daily routines and other customs.