Police in southern Japan reported more than 7,000 cases of ‘rojo-ne’ last year

Japan is largely tolerant of salarymen snoozing on trains after an evening out, but authorities on the southern island of Okinawa are taking a dim view of a worrying new trend in alcohol-fuelled somnolence.

Local police reported more than 7,000 cases of rojo-ne – literally sleeping on the road – last year, a phenomenon some attribute to Okinawa’s balmy weather and enthusiastic consumption of a fiery spirit that has been made on the island for hundreds of years.

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