Non-translation question...

[Warren Smith]

I hope you don't mind if I ask a non-translation question to my colleagues here (whom I consider almost my "office mates" and friends from years of interactions). Such collegial questions seem more appropriate now that Honyaku is a low-volume list than they would have been when the list was more active.

 

Question: In modern Japanese single-family residential architecture, are tatami rooms still popular? I have a vague impression that houses tend to be mostly of a western still, but still have at least one 和室 as well. Is that impression correct?

 

Thanks.

 

Warren

[Motohiro Kojima]

Warren Smith様

うちの家も１室だけが和室で、他は全部洋室です。
うちは「仏壇」があるため、それを置くために和室を作っています。
和室には「床の間」もあります。
でも、和室を作る家は徐々に減ってきているように感じます。

個人的には、畳の上に寝転がるのは気持ちがいいので好きです。

On Mon, 12 Feb 2024 09:50:15 -0500
Warren Smith様 wrote:
|Question: In modern Japanese single-family residential architecture, are
|tatami rooms still popular? I have a vague impression that houses tend to be
|mostly of a western still, but still have at least one 和室 as well. Is that
|impression correct?

2024.02.12 23:53:29
===================================
小島基弘 <mthr...@imoduru.net>

[Dan Lucas]

Warren, when my brother-in-law and his wife built a new house about six years ago in the center of a city about 30 minutes from Tokyo, they did not include a washitsu at all. It's basically Western.

This is only one data point, but I would say theirs is a typically middle-class, salariman household in which the father is in middle management at a successful industrial company, and the mother does some side work in addition to looking after the home. Both of them are from prefectures outside Tokyo.

Dan Lucas

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[Warren Smith]

Thank you, Motohiro and Dan.

 

I have a client who is wondering about Japanese architectural practices, and my personal observations are 30 years outdated. (Amazing how time flies...)

 

W

 

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[Tom Gally]

Warren,

Judging from the real estate ads that come with my morning newspaper, I have the impression that the majority of newly constructed houses do not have washitsu. That seems to be confirmed by a cursory glance at the Google image search results for 新築 一戸建て 間取り図:

https://shorturl.at/owyD8

The following article has some data and links that might confirm or deny that impression:

https://www.metaexpo.jp/14858/

The other day, I was taking a walk in my Yokohama neighborhood down a street I normally don't use, and I noticed a tatami shop that I hadn't realized was there:

https://shorturl.at/wOR03

Such shops were common forty years ago, but I couldn’t think of any others in the immediate area.

Tom Gally

[Warren Smith]

Thanks. This is interesting.

 

I find myself wistful for the house I lived in 40 years ago that was all tatami rooms (aside from the kitchen and dining room). The land has long since been turned into a horrible apartment building with tiny dingy rooms.

 

Sad...

 

W

 

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[Yamamoto]

Warren Smith様

私の家は和室は1つ、残り4部屋は洋室です。和室は、お客さんや親戚が我が家に遊びに来て泊まる際に、布団を敷くために必要です。海外の豪邸のように、ゲスト用のベッドを常備することはできませんので。

2024年2月12日(月) 23:50 Warren Smith <warren...@comcast.net>:

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[JamesALockhart]

Warren,

Most newbuilds in my area (Yamaguchi Prefecture) seem to have space set aside for a washitsu as an option but do not include one by default. Condos are looking more-and-more European looking. Also, heated floors are gaining popularity, and single-family newbuilds with solar panels and power storage are quite mainstream. So too are double glazing and insulation bordering on hermetic sealing. Heat pumps have been the norm for climate control for a good 30 years now, and I've seem them used in combination with geothermal heat exchangers.

HTH,

—Jim Lockhart

[Rene]

On Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 11:50 PM Warren Smith <warren...@comcast.net> wrote:

 Question: In modern Japanese single-family residential architecture, are tatami rooms still popular? I have a vague impression that houses tend to be mostly of a western still, but still have at least one 和室 as well. Is that impression correct?

Fwiw, my son and his J-wife just bought a concrete house in Tokyo and had it re-modelled by a "reform" company. The chose flooring in all rooms but made 2 rooms (their bedroom and a guest room) washitsu. Incomewise you´d classify them as upper middle class. So at least for them, your impression is correct.

Rene von Rentzell

[ボーマンエドワード]

Warren,

I've been to a few newbuilds recently that have a big open kitchen/living room with a tatami area (usually four or six mats) built into the room. There are no walls or doors separating the tatami from the rest of the room, although at one of our neighbor's house the tatami section is slightly raised. They are all owned by families with small children, so the tatami section is usually used as a play area. 

Regards,

Edward Bowman

[NAGAO Takehiko]

検索してみたらこんなのが見つかりました。ご参考までに。

https://sh-nomura.co.jp/news/p220/
>アキュラホーム住生活研究所の調査によると、新築住宅に和室・畳コーナーを設ける割合は、
>2009年に62%だったのに対し、2016年には71％と増加していることがわかりました。
>マンションでは和室・畳コーナーを見かけることは減っていますが、戸建を建てる人には、
>まだまだ和室や畳の需要があるようです。また、一昔前は、和室といえば6畳が主流で
>あったのに対して、近年は3～4.5畳を選ぶ方が増えているそうです。

On Mon, 12 Feb 2024 09:50:15 -0500

[Warren Smith]

This is very interesting that there has been an increase in the proportion
of new construction with tatami rooms. I wonder why.

Does the SMELL of tatami have a particular emotional impact in Japan?
Personally, when I enter a tatami room the smell feels quite 懐かしい, with
the same emotional impact as the first smell of a Christmas tree in
December.

In straw-based architectural materials in Japan, would the smell be a
selling point?

Just curious.... (I appreciate everybody giving me information on this
non-translation topic.)

W

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Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2024 8:23 PM
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Subject: Re: Non-translation question...

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[Motohiro Kojima]

Warren Smith様

|Does the SMELL of tatami have a particular emotional impact in Japan?

Yes! Absolutely!
The smell of tatami makes me feel so relaxed or ”癒やされます”,
especially newly replaced tatami does.

2024.02.15 11:51:10
===================================
小島基弘 <mthr...@imoduru.net>

[Jerry Pietrzak]

I was going to say that I've heard the same from many Japanese friends and acquaintances—I've heard more than once that the smell of new tatami is a comforting smell. I imagine it similar to a "new car" smell but with more emotional weight, like the smell of a Christmas tree.

In my part of Kyushu it seems like the majority of new houses/condos have a single smaller (4.5帖) tatami room, usually just off the living room. We opted to have one off of our living room, with sliding doors. It serves as a guest room when family comes to visit, or a place to relax if you want something other than the sofa. We do not have a 床の間 in our home, and come to think of it I think a lot of the houses or condos I've seen omit this as well.

At the same time, I don't think I've seen any floor plans for new construction with two or more tatami rooms in a long time.

For me personally, I can echo Kojima-san: 「個人的には、畳の上に寝転がるのは気持ちがいいので好きです」
I was the one who insisted on having a tatami room in our house._

A good and interesting question, Warren!