Japan Mystery

Taken on the way to work one day. You have three guesses as to why they look like this...

They are meditating.
It is common to see people in public meditate and its the current 'in' thing in Japan right now. People meditate to relieve the stress of work and the Japanese ministry of health has asked that people meditate for at least 5 minutes a day.
They are dead.
Lately many people have been dropping dead like flies around Tokyo due to overworking. This happens so often that it could be a few hours before their bodies are collected. If people just happen to drop dead on a train track, the train company will sue the family of the dead person for causing X amount of monetary loss due to train delays.
They are sleeping.
Many people in Japan for some reason stay at work until very late at night and are flat out the next day. There doesn't seem to be a sense of trying to finish everything between nine to five. Indeed, many people go to work late at around ten thirty because they know that going into work early doesn't mean that they can leave early.
There is always a peer pressure to stay behind at work. If one leaves early - they are 'slacking'. If they work late then it looks like they are doing a good job - or they 'feel' that they are doing a good job. The boss doesn't leave early because they feel that they cant leave their staff behind. Subordinates dont leave early because they feel they cant knock off before their boss - evil circle.
If you dont like this style of work, make sure you land yourself a results oriented job when looking for work in japan.

The full article that includes this photo lives at www.dannychoo.com/adp/eng/678/
You may also want to check out www.flickr.com/photos/dannychoo/collections/ for similar photos

駅で仮眠
日本でよく見れるのは駅で仮眠している人。なんだか日本の方って良く遅くまで働いていますね。公務員さんは6時ぐらいにあがれるらしいが、その他の企業などは違いますね。一生懸命働いている人はもちろんいますが、そうでもない人も少なくないような。。。以前働いているある起業では、上司は早めに帰らない理由はなんだと聞いたら、"部下はまだ帰っていないから"と答えた。部下に早めに帰らない理由と聞いたら、"上司はまだ帰っていないから"と答えた。。。こんなのでいいのかな。
この英語バージョンの記事に外人さんに３問を聞いた。。。
この写真の含んだ記事は www.dannychoo.com/adp/jpn/678/ にあります。
コレクションは www.flickr.com/photos/dannychoo/collections/ にあるよ。