Whenever I get a meeting I don't understand why I was invited to, I just ask whoever invited me, or my boss if customer did, what my purpose is in the meeting.

Almost always I can avoid the full meeting with the understanding that they can call me in if they need my expertise. When that happens it's typically just a couple of questions and I can go back.

Sure some weeks can get a bit busy with meetings if we have a lot of projects going on, but I'm almost never in a meeting where I feel I'm wasting time.

This is something great about video conferencing. Forced to attend a meeting that has no bearing on your work. If you are there in person, banging away on your keyboard the whole time in the corner is considered rude. On video conferencing you can just mute yourself, turn down the volume and just keep your ears perked for your name and keep working.

In Japan it's socially acceptable to fall asleep during meetings.

Probably stating the obvious, but isn't being forced to attend a meeting that has no bearing on one's work is a sign of a pretty significant organisational dysfunction?

it might be but it's still commonplace, and not just in America

Though if there's anything the past few months have demonstrated, online meetings have that same problem.

The solution is fewer, more effective, meetings not forcing people back to face-to-face meetings that should have been an email.