Second star on the right

straight until Ueno (or 'Diary of a cat-napper')

Case One:
The Scene: Yurakucho Subway, early morning
The Scenario: I am riding the subway, innocently reading my book, when a girl who has been leaning against a nearby post, suddenly drops to the floor. Everyone around her (including me, kindhearted gaijin-samaritan that I am) scrambles to her aid, thinking she may have passed out from the heat. She stands up, face bright red, spluttering, "Gomen, Gomen" ("sorry, sorry"). Turns out she'd fallen asleep and lost control of her 'faculties'. She resumes her slumber against the post, seemingly oblivious to the consternation she has caused.

Case Two:
The Scene: Yamanote line, peak hour
The Scenario: I squeeze onto a peak hour train with a colleague, lets call her Greta, and about 5 minutes into the journey, Greta says; 'Can you hear that noise?' I listen, can't hear a thing, until Greta says; 'It sounds like snoring.' We look around (everyone looks about as alert as they are going to at 8 in the morning) and decide that Greta is going bonkers. We approach our station, the train clears out, and there, lying on the floor, prostate in a post-shochu-cat-nap is our adenoidally-challenged friend sprawled across the aisle. The dainty "office-girls" are tip-toeing around the soused sod, trying not to wake him.

Case Three:
The Scene: Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank, lunchtime
The Scenario: I walk into the bank at lunchtime, take a number (ah, Japanese banks - the delicatessens of the finance world...) and sit down on the seats kindly provided, along with about 20 other patrons. Everything is deathly quiet in the bank until I realize. Everyone is asleep. Everyone.

The cat-napper is an insidious beast. I've seen train commuters compromise their dignity after a napper visit, lolling all over their neighbour, mouths agape in a carp-like grimace. Matthew has, himself, fallen victim to the 'napper' on several occasions, waking up at his train stop moments before the train is about to leave the platform. And sometimes moments after.....