on washitsu, tatami, and futons...

I guess I have been negligent in discussing daily Japanese life and have decided to remedy this after Shelley's question. Washitsu is a traditional Japanese room where the floor is covered in tatami mats. What is a tatami mat well...tatami mats are made of woven straw and packed with straw or styrofoam and are approximately 5cm thick. Around my area most people have at least one tatami room to entertain in, sleep in or both. I am the only ALT I know without. Tatami gives off a specific grassy type smell so you can always tell if a house has them. Melissa hates the smell but I think it is kind of nice. Anyhow, often rooms in houses are not measure by square feet but by tatami mats (even if there are none) so 6 tatami etc.

I'd say over half the Japanese population around here do not own a bed. They sleep on futon sprawled out on the tatami.

I had a funny conversation with my Japanese tutor a while ago. She asked me if I was scared of falling out of my bed. I can't recall ever falling out though perhaps it happened when I was little or slightly intoxicated but apparently she has this great fear. She lived in Australia for a year and she said she always fell out of her bed. She said that it was a hot topic of conversation between her friends. Can you imagine, "We stayed at a hotel last night and I couldn't sleep because I was so afraid I'd fall out!" I guess she grew up sleeping on the floor and did not develop an awareness for the edge of the bed. Families often sleep in the same room and she was also describing how all three kids are always kicking them during the night(one of the reasons for love hotels I'm sure). Families sleep on their futon on the tatami but during the day the futons, blankets and pillows are folded and stored in a special closet.

Futons need to be aired because of the dripping humidity so during the summer houses are decorated with futons hanging, or draped over ever surface, balcony, windows, roof. It can paint a colourful picture.