The Prime Minister of Japan was captured taking a nap during his re-election in parliament.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared to doze off after ‘working late into the night’ and taking cold medicine, a government spokesperson later clarified.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said in a statement: ‘I understand that he had a cold today and was taking cold medicine.’
Officials clarified that other than the cold, there are no concerns for Ishiba’s health.
Other Japanese officials didn’t see the funny side of the Prime Minister’s short nap, with party leader Nobuyuki Baba saying his actions were ‘inappropriate’.
He said: ‘We were holding an election to decide the head of one of the three branches of government, so I think it would be inappropriate for one to take a rest during such an election.’
It could be worse, though. Earlier this year, a lawyer faced losing her job after falling asleep – for two hours – during an inquest.
Ramya Nagesh was in a room at the Holiday Inn Express, Stockport, when she dialled in virtually to a coroner’s court hosted by Pontypridd County Court in December 2022.
Her client, a nurse witness, was giving evidence when the coroner realised Nagesh was absent. Her camera was off and she failed to respond when asked further questions, instead returning to the hearing late.
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A tribunal heard that she fell asleep for a couple of hours after eating a baked potato during the 45-minute lunch break.
However, she successfully argued that she suffered from fatigue caused by a covid-19 infection, along with a vitamin D deficiency and a sleep disorder that affected her cognition and memory and caused bad dreams.
They tried to contact her by phone, text and email but they went unanswered.
Initially she claimed that there had been an internet glitch before she admitted to being ‘in a fog’ and that she believed she had only been asleep for 10 minutes, according to The Telegraph.
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