Monday was Sea Day in Japan, a public holiday when many people escape the summer heat by swimming, surfing and lounging at the beach. But not Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

周一是日本的“海之日”，这是一个公共假日，许多人趁此机会去游泳、冲浪、在海滩消夏。但首相高市早苗并没有休息。

Ms. Takaichi spent the holiday weekend rereading policy documents and dealing with a backlog of thousands of emails, according to a social media post on Tuesday. She wrote that she eked out a “full five hours of sleep for the first time in ages” — better than the “zero to three hours” she said she is accustomed to. And she said she spent her limited free time ironing undergarments, sewing fraying skirts and reinforcing loose jacket buttons.

她周二在社交媒体发文，称此次三连休期间都在重读政策文件，处理积压的数千封电子邮件。她写道，“久违地睡了五个小时”，比已经成为常态的“零至三小时睡眠”好多了。她还说，在难得的空闲时间里，她熨烫了内衣、缝补了裙摆和松动的外套纽扣。

With her comments, Ms. Takaichi seemed eager to present herself as a down-to-earth leader who doesn’t stop working on behalf of Japan’s citizens. Instead, her post, which has been viewed more than 31 million times, has set off a national debate about work-life balance and the hazards of sleep deprivation.

高市早苗似乎想通过这些言论把自己塑造成一个脚踏实地、为日本国民不停工作的领导人。然而，她那篇浏览量已超过3100万次的贴文却在日本引发了一场关于工作与生活平衡以及睡眠不足危害的全国性讨论。

Toru Kunishige, an opposition lawmaker, warned that a prolonged lack of sleep “impairs judgment — much like a state of intoxication — and could pose a risk to national crisis management.”

反对党议员国重彻警告说，长期睡眠不足“会损害判断力——就像醉酒一样——可能给国家危机管理带来风险”。

Hiroyuki Konishi, another critic of Ms. Takaichi in Parliament, called for her resignation, saying, “The prime minister’s actual job is to set policy directions and issue instructions, not to pore over every last detail of a document.”

高市早苗在国会的另一位批评者、议员小西洋之呼吁她辞职，称“首相的真正职责是制定政策方向并下达指示，而不是逐字逐句地审阅文件的每一个细节”。

Yuichiro Tamaki, the leader of a populist conservative party, described Ms. Takaichi as hard-working but added that “resting is also a job.”

民粹保守派政党领袖玉木雄一郎肯定了高市早苗的勤勉，但同时指出“休息也是工作”。

Ms. Takaichi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

对于置评请求，高市早苗的办公室未立即作出回应。

Some commentators argued that Ms. Takaichi, the first woman to serve as prime minister in Japan, should be given more support in her position. While previous leaders often relied on their wives for help at home, Ms. Takaichi appeared to be tackling more domestic duties, according to Yoko Iwama, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

一些评论人士认为，作为日本首位女首相，高市早苗理应在工作中获得更多支持。东京政策研究大学院大学的教授岩间阳子指出，以往的首相往往依赖妻子承担家庭事务，而高市似乎不得不亲自处理更多家务。

“Establishing a support system that allows a Japanese prime minister to focus entirely on their duties — without having to handle household chores personally — would contribute to women’s advancement in society,” Ms. Iwama wrote in the Nikkei, a prominent business newspaper.

岩间在日本知名财经报纸《日本经济新闻》撰文称：“建立一套支持机制，使日本首相能够全身心投入公务而无需亲自处理家务，将有助于推动女性在社会中的发展。”

Ms. Takaichi has been in overdrive recently to get her legislative priorities passed before Parliament breaks for the summer on Saturday. She is also grappling with continuing economic troubles — the yen has hit a 39-year low — and a recent dip in popularity, though her approval ratings remain relatively high.

近来，高市一直处于超负荷工作状态，希望赶在国会于本周六进入夏季休会之前通过她优先推动的各项法案。与此同时，她还必须应对持续的经济困境——日元汇率已跌至39年来的新低——以及近期支持率下滑的问题，尽管其整体民望仍维持在相对较高的水平。

In her post, Ms. Takaichi wrote at length about her recent workload. She said that since early July, “from early morning until late at night,” she had been holed up on weekends at her residence “poring over thick stacks of documents.”

在帖子中，高市早苗详细描述了近来繁重的工作状态。她说，进入7月以后的周末，“从清晨到深夜”，她都把自己关在首相官邸，“与堆积如山的文件搏斗”。

She also shared personal details, saying she was “terrible at ironing and it takes forever.” But, she said, after her holiday ironing session, she “secured enough handkerchiefs and undergarments to last until the end of the session.”

她还分享了一些个人生活细节，称自己“特别不擅长熨烫，花的时间总是很长”。不过，她也表示，经过假期的熨烫，“到国会会期结束前，手帕和内衣都够用了”。

“I can dive back in and give it my all starting tomorrow!” she wrote.

“明天又能加油了！”她写道。

Ms. Takaichi’s allies have come to her defense, praising her for offering a candid view of the pressures of balancing work with personal commitments.

高市早苗的盟友纷纷为她辩护，称赞她坦诚地展现了在工作与私事之间寻求平衡的重重压力。

Ayano Kunimitsu, a vice foreign minister, said that Ms. Takaichi, like other politicians, faced pressure to manage chores on her own.

外务副大臣国光文乃表示，高市早苗和其他政治人物一样，也面临着必须亲自处理家务的压力。

“Each person has their own circumstances and behind-the-scenes stories,” Ms. Kunimitsu wrote on X. “I would be grateful if you could understand.”

“每个人都有自己的情况和难处，”国光文乃在X平台上写道。“如果大家能理解，我会很感激。”

Japan has a reputation for long working hours, with days at some corporations exceeding 12 hours. In business and government, workers face pressure to stay at the office until superiors have left for the day and to log excessive amounts of overtime, which is seen as a sign of loyalty and diligence.

日本一直以工作时间过长而著称，一些企业的员工每天工作时间超过12小时。在企业和政府部门，员工普遍承受着一种压力：必须等到上司离开后才能下班，并且经常加班很长时间，因为加班被视为忠诚和勤奋的表现。

There have been high-profile cases in Japan in recent years of karoshi, or “death from overwork.” The issue came into the spotlight in 2016, when Matsuri Takahashi, an employee of Dentsu, the advertising giant, died by suicide after clocking more than 100 hours of overtime per month. Her death prompted the government to impose a limit of 45 hours of overtime per month, which some experts say has helped ease the work culture, especially for young people.

近年来，日本发生过多起备受关注的“过劳死”案例。2016年，广告巨头电通的员工高桥茉莉在每月加班超过100小时后自杀身亡。她的死促使政府设定了每月45小时的加班上限。一些专家认为，这项改革有助于改善日本的职场文化，尤其是对年轻人而言。

Since entering politics in the 1990s, Ms. Takaichi, who aspires to be a transformative leader, has made her work ethic a central part of her identity. Upon taking office as prime minister last year, she promised to “work, work, work, work and work.” She has skillfully deployed social media to highlight her busy schedule, writing a lengthy post in January about dealing with geopolitical issues while moving into the prime minister’s residence during the holiday season.

自1990年代踏入政界以来，立志成为变革型领导人的高市早苗一直把勤奋工作作为自己政治形象的核心。去年出任首相时，她曾承诺要“工作、工作、工作、工作、再工作”。她也很会用社交媒体展示自己的繁忙日程——今年1月，她曾发长文描述自己在假期期间一边处理地缘政治问题、一边搬进首相官邸的经历。

This is not the first time her habits have come under scrutiny. In November, she drew criticism for summoning her aides at 3 a.m. She later explained that her fax machine at home had broken, and she needed her staff’s help getting to another office so she could prepare for a meeting.

这并非她的工作习惯第一次受到质疑。去年11月，她曾因凌晨3点召集助手而受到批评。事后她解释称，是因为家里的传真机坏了，她需要工作人员协助前往另一间办公室，以便准备一场会议。