Sleeping In The Road,

does not happen a lot, unless you live in the Japanese province of Okinawa,

apparently police have been struggling with a phenomenon called rojo-ne, which translates literally as “sleeping on the road”, photographs Okinawa Prefectural Police’s Yaeyama Police Station, provincial police reporting over 7,000 cases recorded in 2019 alone. Some of those unfortunately resulted in the loss of human lives, and authorities are desperate to put an end to rojo-ne, a phenomenon that has been on the rise in Okinawa for years. Sadly, despite taking several measures against offenders, police have seen no improvements. In fact, things have been getting worse,

“First of all, I think we’re the only ones collecting statistics on rojo-ne,” prefectural police chief Tadataka Miyazawa told the Mainichi newspaper. “I didn’t even know the term ‘rojo-ne’ before coming to Okinawa. I think it’s a phenomenon unique to Okinawa.” so what exactly is causing people to fall asleep on the roads of Okinawa? Well, as you probably already guessed, it has something to do with alcohol, as the vast majority of offenders are heavily inebriated. Some also think that the province’s warm climate all year round , with the annual average surpassing 20 degrees Celsius, might have something to do with it, Okinawa police have been trying to prevent rojo-ne cases by raising awareness about the phenomenon through local media and radio, they’ve been fining offenders up to 50,000 yen (about $470), and even held a rojo-ne-themed photo exhibition last year. Nothing has worked, as data shows that rojo-ne cases are on the rise, how strange this seems to occur in just on area, but there it is, be careful out there!