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New Japanese office furniture, lockers to stand and sleep in, baffles, depresses the Internet

Casey Baseel Jul 17, 2022
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For when your boss says you can take a nap, but there’s nowhere to lie down.

At my first job in Japan, one day I showed up at the office only to find one of my coworkers sleeping on the floor in the back room. “Oh, yeah, she’s tired, so just let her be,” my manager said, and I couldn’t decide if she was being an extremely kind boss by letting an employee take a nap during work hours, or a mercilessly cruel one by not letting her just go home and get some sleep without having to do it on the floor.

If only we’d had this innovative new piece of Japanese office furniture.

That’s the latest creation from Tokyo-based office furniture supplier Itoki. Developed in cooperation with Hokkaido woodworking company Koyoju Plywood Corporation. They call it the Kamin Box, or “Nap Box.” Though it looks like a stylish storage locker, it’s actually designed to hold people. Sleepy people, precisely. Open the door and step inside, and you’ll find a small ledge to support your butt, plus another one that looks to be either chin or forehead-height, depending on how tall you are, on the inside of the door. The idea is that these contours will hold your body in place so that you can sleep standing up.

According to Asahi Shimbun, the Kamin Box is born out of recently raised awareness of the importance of sleep and rest, and is designed to provide a space where people can take a break without feeling self-conscious, even within an office without a lot of space. It’s unclear whether or not the designers considered whether users would feel self-conscious stepping into a standing sleeping pod in the first place, or whether “Sure, go ahead and take a nap standing up!” is actually represents a gain in terms of worker health, or if it’s a gross underestimation of what constitutes adequate sleep deprivation countermeasures. Online commenters in Japan, though, are less than convinced that the Kamin Box is the solution to the country’s issues with overwork.

“If someone needs this, just let them go home already.”
“Call it a nap all you want, but if you’re standing up the whole time, I don’t think you’re going to feel rested mentally.”
“So you’re allowed to sleep, but not to lie down?”
“Well, at least it’s an admission that sometimes people need to rest instead of pushing themselves to keep working, so I’m happy about that.”
“It looks like something a power-harassing boss would tell you to go stand in.”
“I can imagine someone who’s dangerously overworked using this while pulling an all-nighter, then dying inside.”
“So dystopian!”
“Is…is it a coffin?”

That last comment is just silly, though, because Japan’s sleeping coffins are over here.

Sources: Asahi Shimbun Digital via Livedoor News, YouTube/HBCニュース　北海道放送, Twitter
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he once fell asleep standing up after an all-night party in Shinjuku, and doesn’t recommend it.