Viewing page 35 of 240

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

A COVERED MATTRESS, called a futon, a small, hard pillow and a little floor space are all the bed a Japanese needs. (It is interesting to note that the baby-sized pillows are commonly stuffed with buckwheat husks, and this unusual stuffing keeps the sleeper's head wonderfully cool.) The mattress and the pillow, with a heavy quilt-like blanket, are pitched on the floor every night at bedtime, and every morning they are put away in a closet.

Sleeping on the floor offers many advantages. One does not have to trot from one side to the other of an elevated wooden frame to make a bed. One does not need a night table, or the shelf space featured in the Hollywood type bed, because the floor sprawls all around the sleeper places everything in easy reach. And one doesn't need to worry about falling out of bed because there is no place to fall from.

30