Japanese high-school students often study until late into the night and sacrifice
their sleep in order to pass entrance and other exams. On the other hand, they often
take a nap in the (late) afternoon, and daytime napping or inemuri is
widely tolerated. This article asks what cultural and social sense it makes to keep
students up for studying, when they cannot concentrate on what is being said in
class. It examines notions of time and diligence based on the ethnographic findings
and analyses sleep, especially inemuri, from sociological perspective.
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