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.
Police in Japan’s southernmost prefecture, located 1,000 miles from Tokyo, are thought to be the only force in the country that keep statistics on rojo-ne, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.
“I didn’t even know the term ‘rojo-ne’ before coming to Okinawa. I think it’s a phenomenon unique to Okinawa,” Tadataka Miyazawa, who took became prefectural police chief less than a year ago, told the newspaper.
In most instances, people are roused from their impromptu slumber before coming to any harm, but 16 of the 7,221 rojo-ne cases reported last year resulted in accidents, three of them fatal.
Restrictions on Japan’s nighttime economy prompted by the coronavirus outbreak have failed to slow the trend. In the first six months of this year, police received 2,702 rojo-ne emergency calls – about the same number as at the same point last year – despite government requests for people not to venture out at night.
Locals believe Okinawa’s warm weather, combined with awamori – a rice-based spirit unique to the island that is usually drunk with water and ice – are fuelling the rojo-ne phenomenon, a criminal offence that can result in a fine of up to 50,000 yen [£358].
Radio broadcasts and a photo exhibition warning of the dangers of rojo-ne do not appear to have convinced drinkers to stop while they are still capable of making it to the safety of their own beds.
In some cases, police have come across “victims” using the curb as a “cooling” pillow; others have stripped down to their underwear, apparently in the belief that they are already at home.
With temperatures soaring across Japan this summer, local authorities accept that there is no end in sight for the rojo-ne epidemic.
Tatsuo Oshiro, head of prefectural police’s traffic division, said officers would show little mercy to habitual offenders, and called on residents to moderate their awamori consumption.
“Don’t get me wrong, alcohol isn’t bad,” he told the Mainichi, “It’s just bad to drink to excess.”
