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THE JAPANESE do not believe in cluttering up their rooms with furniture. In fact, the rooms are so simply furnished that, at first glance, one gets the impression that the occupants have just moved out. There are no floor lamps and few table lamps; there usually is just a ceiling denki (light). Most of the other fragments of furniture that sprout in the rooms of an American's home are conspicuous by their absence.

The rooms are dotted with a dresser, a stand for radio, a flower-filled vase, and, in winter, the hibachi. There are takusan (many, lots, much, the amount the serviceman wants on payday) large, square pillows. These are not for resting the head but for resting the knees when squatting on the haunches. They are, in effect, chairs. 

Like Mother Hubbard's cupboard, it's a rather bare situation. But when one comes right down to it, what does a person need all the other pieces of furniture for anyway? Think of the dusting it saves okusan (the little woman, the lady you give your heart to, your wife.)

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