The Future of Tatami Outside Japan

Tatami serves as a multi-functional flooring and furniture material in traditional Japanese houses, and Westerners use it with suitable arrangements. Some choose to sleep on tatami for health reasons, while others adopt the lifestyle of 'floor living' to solve the spatial problems in cities. In any case, people use tatami for practical reasons rather than due to a cultural preference. I surveyed 750 respondents, including 463 non-Japanese people, and conducted both quantitative and qualitative analysis. I also interviewed European vendors and users of tatami during 2022-2023. The results showed that non-Japanese customers, especially Europeans, wanted authentic tatami mats made of natural materials such as igusa and rice straw to ensure health and sustainability. On the other hand, Japan's tatami industry is shifting towards artificial, or alternative, tatami-like mats. Few authentic tatami rooms exist in Japanese homes nowadays, and producers of tatami materials are almost extinct in Japan. Chinese farmers who supply almost 80% of igusa to the Japanese market may also discontinue their trade because the production is time-consuming and yields low profit. This paper discusses the possibilities of continuously producing and selling tatami in and outside Japan.