Minimalist Sleeping: More Unanswered Questions on Japanese Sleeping Floor Beds / Futons

WHERE DO YOU BUY YOUR JAPANESE FUTONS?

You can buy an all-cotton futon made in the U.S.! You can’t get better than that.

DO NOT cheap out on your bed. You can buy futons everywhere but a good one is worth the $$$$.

HOW MANY FUTONS SHOULD YOU BUY?

Start with one futon, the key is to have it soft and thick, but not TOO soft and thick.

You want to reach that Goldilocks perfect balance where it is firm but not too firm, and soft but not too soft.

Over the years, our one futon matted down over constant sleeping and rolling all over it, and we bought a second one to lay on top to make it soft again.

I wouldn’t buy more than two to be honest.

Two is all you need as a MAXIMUM for a lifetime because they’re really thick, like a real mattress.

If you make it TOO thick and soft, it turns into a regular mattress and it’ll hurt your back badly.

I once slept on a futon where it was 3 layers thick and I woke up with the most terrible back pain because it was too thick and soft, and my back was not properly aligned or supported on a harder surface, so it would twist at night and I would hobble awake in the mornings.

WHAT SIZE OF JAPANESE FUTON DID YOU BUY?

We sleep in a family bed.

I have made my peace with it, and while there are some great things about it (morning cuddles), sometimes I do wish he could sleep alone and be fine. *sigh*

We got Baby Bun a twin-sized one, and we ourselves have a Queen-sized futon.

He sleeps in between us. It’s a tight squeeze but he always likes to squish me up against the wall by rolling over and trying to sleep on me as much as possible, so I get zero space, regardless of how big the futon is.

Once he gets bigger and if he wants to continue sleeping with us, we are putting his twin-sized futon alongside ours so it gives us more space and room.

HOW DO YOU CLEAN & RE-FLUFF A JAPANESE FUTON?

You’re supposed to flip it over the balcony and whack the hell out of it with a tennis racket (or something similar) to fluff it out and to let the sun disinfect it.

We didn’t do this before.

We just fluff it and rotate the mattresses every 3-6 months.

Then a reader mentioned that she runs the vacuum cleaner over it carefully and grabs out all the dust to help re-fluff it.

Brilliant!

We do something similar to spot clean, but now I am going to actively vacuum each futon layer.

HAVE YOU BOUGHT OR PURCHASED TATAMI MATS FOR YOUR BED?

No.

We are thinking about it and I think I may bring it up again to my partner to see if he wants to, but we do not use tatami mats at all.

I think it would give a nice smell to be honest, which would be the only benefit as far as I can see.

We don’t have problems with humidity or bugs, so I am not concerned about that.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?