{
  "id": 7488639,
  "title": "Get paid to sleep: Japan announces tournament with Rs 13.76 lakh prize",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/get-paid-to-sleep-japan-announces-tournament-with-rs-13-76-lakh-prize",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-15T06:17:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/japan-sleep-tournament-rs-13-lakh-prize-10878520/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A Japanese mattress company has announced a unique competitive sleeping tournament in Tokyo, offering a prize of 2.22 million Yen (around Rs 13.76 lakh) to the best sleeper. Contestants must fall asleep within a 90-minute session and maintain deep, stable sleep. Sleep-tracking devices will monitor sleep depth, quality, stability, and time taken to fall asleep. Before each session, contestants undergo pre-sleep exercises and are given a random \"sleep item\" that may impact their performance. Participants cannot deliberately stay awake or use medications to induce sleep. Medical staff will assess collected data, and special awards like Deep Sleep Dive and Sleep-Turning Acrobat will be given. Three rounds with around 20 contestants each will take place on October 5, 2026. The tournament aims to highlight sleep deprivation in Japan, where average sleep duration is low. This isn't the first unusual sleeping competition; China also hosted an outdoor event in March with cash prizes.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}