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Layoffs Taboo, Japan Workers Are Sent to the Boredom Room 禁止裁员：日本员工被送至“无聊办公室” Shusaku Tani is employed at the Sony plant here, but he doesn’t really work. 秀策山谷（音译）虽然被当地索尼公司雇佣，但却没有真正在工作。 For more than two years, he has come to a small room, taken a seat and then passed the time reading newspapers, browsing the Web and poring over engineering textbooks from his college days. He files a report on his activities at the end of each day. 两年多来，他一直都到一间小办公室里上班，每天就是读读报纸，上上网打发时间，还把他上大学时的工程学课本都看了一遍。等到每日公司下班时，再交一份工作报告就算完成任务了。 Sony, Mr. Tani’s employer of 32 years, consigned him to this room because they can’t get rid of him. Sony had eliminated his position at the Sony Sendai Technology Center, which in better times produced magnetic tapes for videos and cassettes. 秀策先生在索尼工作了32年，因为公司无法对他进行裁员，只能安排他到这间“无聊办公室”工作。秀策曾在索尼仙台技术中心工作，专门生产录音录像磁带。但随着行业日渐没落，他的职位也被迫撤销。 But Mr. Tani, 51, refused to take an early retirement offer from Sony in late 2010 — his prerogative under Japanese labor law. | 
