We may have overstayed on the floor
It’s only 150 years since chairs spread in Japan, as I wrote before. When I was a kid, there was a sofa set in the living room already. Most of my family members, however, often sat on the floor, leaning against the sofa. Funnily enough, my dogs slept on the sofa, instead. I’m sure it’s not a style particular only to my family. When hanging out at my friends’ houses at that time, like playing video games together, I found they did it in the same manner. The lifestyle of living on the floor may be printed in the DNA of Japanese people.
We can’t stay still even on the sofa
Of course, I’m just kidding. It’s not such a biological issue. Simply, the space of sofas is too small for us. We, at home on the floor, return to nature: lying face-up or -down, sitting with the knees held or the legs crossed or straight-out, etc. One thing that is for sure is no one never sits up straight at home, though I’m hoping I’m not the only one who thinks like this. This back-to-nature movement may happen due to one of the advantages of our culture: No shoes inside.
In Japan, the floor is clean because we take off shoes inside the home. By the way, it’s off the topic, but it is said that shoes were not developed so much but sandals (flip-flops) in Japan because of the no shoe policy. Even on the sofa, in the same manner as that of our pre-chair era, we may subconsciously try to adjust sitting position, feel cramped, and go back to the floor. I believe this would be the cause of our giving up relaxing on the sofa.
The sofa to pull Japanese people up from the floor
This is our time to work as a leading furniture maker in Japan, and we launched a sofa some years ago to salvage Japanese people from the floor. It’s MOLA. The designer explained it was not a sofa but a place where people can relax. The seat cushions are made to be bigger especially in the depth direction and softer by using a lot of feathers, compared with other our sofas. The irregular shape of each modular unit will provide a relaxing space. I think it’s something more than a sofa set, it’s more like a personal hideout where you can return to nature.
Shungo Ijima
He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.
Photo Credit: https://japanobjects.com/features/zabuton-cushion