Do you have tatami?

Question

My friend (Japanese) said she did not want a tatami room when her and her husband built their house....She said many Japanese are starting to feel this way because its very expensive to replace and alot of people don't want to deal with it so they just have hardwood or whatever.

Do you think it's true? And I've noticed in some Japanese homes, things seem more "western", like the furniture and such.

Do you think tatami rooms in homes are going out of style and practicality? Do you have tatami in your home?

I guess this question is more for the native japanese

Answer 1

When you get used to 'western' lifestyle where you sit on chairs, it's physically hard to have to sit on the floor and get up from there. That's a major reason why the whole room with tatami floor is not as popular as it used to be.

It feels and smells too nice to entirely let go, however, and some people opt for tatami benches, tatami beds or set up a raised tatami section (with storage room underneath) as a part of the living room. Tha latter is what I'd like to do with my apartment someday.

Answer 2

I have a tatami room and the rest of my apartment has wooden flooring.
The tatami room is Japanese style without beds or western style furniture to damage the tatami. It is an open room.
More and more people are going for flooring but it would be some time before we see tatamis vanishing from the Japanese homes.
In the last twenty years or so more and more Japanese are seeking a western approach to living.But with the cramped space it is no fun putting beds ,sofas, cupboards etc to make it look western.I still go for the built in cupboards, futon and open space.

Answer 3

Are you saying that it's expensive to replace a tatami with a new one? No way. It's cheap.

But there is another reason why tatami is decreasing. It does not fit for the contemporary life style. Is it good to put a computer desk in a tatami room? I don't think so.

I have one tatami room but other rooms without tatami.

Answer 4

All the Japanese homes I visited had them. Those were 10-15 years old though.

They may be expensive to replace, but you don't have to replace the whole room like you do with most carpets. (However, carpet tiles are also popular in Japan...)

There is one situation where they're better than hardwood floors, and better than most carpets. They're safe for little kids. My host family had two toddlers who were constantly falling all over the place and beating the crap out of each other, and they'd have had a lot more injuries if they hadn't been doing a lot of that roughhousing on the tatami.

Answer 5

How well do tatami stand up to the presence of pets? I am thinking about getting some... but we have both dogs and cats and I am afraid that the dogs will chew them up and/or the cats will shred them with claws, etc... anyone have experience/opinions to share?

Answer 6

Korovan: use area rug on tatami.

Answer 7

When they got older, they would install tatami room. Even today lots of new-built high-rise apartments have one tatami room next to hardwood floor. (you can remove it though).
http://www.obu112.jp/model/images/mod_img05.jpg

Answer 8

some of my friends have their own house and all of them have tatami room.
but not traditional tatami room.
they use tatami as bench or put tatami one corner of living room.
they like tatami but dont like traditional tatami room.
dont need 'tokonoma' and 'oshiire with fusuma' and 'shouji screen'.
some have tatami space because of their mom and dad.

Answer 9

I like the kotatsu with a place to put your legs arrangement. I don't think tatami is all that expensive to replace. You can do it yourself, just like repapering shoji is no biggie.