When I see Japanese culture, as a designer I am very into their way of design thinking... less is more. I believe a lot of Japanese design origin may well be minimalism at its best. I can observe this is represented especially well with Japanese tatami room design and also Japanese food. Cut out the excess and leave only what is essential... make every object or ingredient count. Its why I love sushi so much... its so simple. Rice, raw fish, and soy sauce with wasabi... How much simpler can it really get?
Traditional with Modernized Tatami Room of Japan / Image fully licensed by AdobeStock_220815086
In Taiwan we see a lot of Japanese influence taught and handed down to create Taiwan's own unique culture which happened during WWII. Taiwanese history as I learned is quite interesting due to the fact I am Korean and historically Korean's did not like Japan (This notion may have changed now but I am not sure, I am going with what I learned during my education period in Korea). However on the contrary Taiwanese people love Japan. So what's the mix up? I understood why. I can explain a very little bit of perspective in a nutshell. Its actually a lot more complex however if I briefly summarize...
We found a tatami sensei craftsman in our city and I can tell he has been doing this for a very long time
The traditional layout of tatami mat layout orientation
Japan's colonial experiment in which Taiwan was to be an example to the world that Japan can successfully build a modern economy. As a result, Taiwan became one of the most advanced countries in short amount of time through out all of Asia during Japan's rule. Korea was also ruled by Japan in a similar way, however the twist here is what happened after the war 1945.
What I learned is that after Japan officially gave up Taiwan, any rulings that came after was a much more oppressive and brutal than the years under Japanese colonial rule. So Taiwan really likes Japan... and I guess it goes both ways even today.
I saw the examples he made for his current clients. It really had a good solid look and feel to it.
The reason I wanted to explain this was because I see Japanese culture influences everywhere I went from food all the way to the very interior design of homes. The home we have now in Taiwan has what they call a tatami room... and I have never seen this before.
I really like the natural color of the woven grass complimenting the patterns of the fabric
It was a very square room... almost looks misplaced. So I asked my wife what this is used for and she replied "Because this building is old traditionally Taiwanese followed Japanese culture. This room is a tatami room and here people get together to drink tea, read books, and relax."
I can see the what is underneath of it all... that is some tightly compacted layers of straw.
OK that sounds pretty cool! I would love to have a very Japanese themed and make it look like exactly like one for guest or when I just want to chill out. The problem was that I didn't see any "tatami"....
Very straight and square edge lines
So what is "TATAMI"?
Tatami is a style of flooring that is ubiquitous throughout Japan. Traditionally, rush grass (IGUSA) was woven around a rice straw core to keep the tatami mat firm. However, now the rice straw core is often replaced with more modern materials, such as wood chips or polystyrene foam.
Source of Description
The flatness of the tatami really shows how compact sensei has packed and layered the straw
The important discovery here is how tatami mats now a days use modern materials, such as wood chips or polystyrene foam. The word "modern materials" actually mean "cheap-ass low quality ghetto materials" it feels cheap, smells cheap, and it easily damaged... and this is coming from a Japanese website from Japan!!!
A machine that sows the straw layers together... looks as old as I am.
I really wanted to have the OG Original Real Deal Authentic Japanese Tatami Mat!!! Lets go for it!! Me and my wife searched online first, and the search results on all of them were pretty darn cheap... I asked my wife "Why are they so cheap? I dont think they are supposed to be that cheap...This can't be right."
These look like his main tools...
Below is a screenshot results from I would say Taiwan's Amazon called Shopee. In Taiwan the currency is in NT and I converted to USD to kind of give you an idea of the price range. I seen these before and they did not look like they were cheap. However maybe I was wrong? I needed to verify....
So again I searched online for an answer and yes I was correct. And WOW what a difference in price!!! Holy shit.
Source Link of Original Kyoto Tatami
Hand-Made Tatami's : $350.00 - $1265.00 USD
Machine-Made Tatami's : $56.00 - $280.00 USD
OK.. yea that sounds about right. Alright if we are going to do it anyway, my strategy is do it once and do it right... Experience tatami to its fullest potential by going full hand made traditional like the old days. Done...but for Hand-Made we could not find it online, so we did what went out manual style. If we want to find the best quality original hand-made tatami, we need to go out and find it. Luckily my wife's family lived in this neighborhood for generations so by asking her family members we were able to find the ONE.
Approving the layout and finish date with my wife
We ordered a custom set designed for our tatami room and we are currently waiting for completion. I will post on our next story of the finished results and installation of the tatami mats as soon as they are finished. Since they are hand-made it will take several weeks...
So excited to see what is will look like and the feeling when stepped on. Can't Wait!!!
Stay tuned!~~ and as always thanks for visiting my blog and checking it out. I really appreciate it. I am constantly thinking of new ideas and discoveries in my daily life what can inspire our community on Hive and if you like what you see let me know. So I can create more of it. :)
Set Da Tone!!!~
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I like tatamis because it usually calls for lighter furniture on the floor.
Certain...Taiwanese people love Japan. For others that identify as Chinese, it's just a unique part of the local culture. Then again, I come from a heavy KMT bias.
The more I understand about Taiwan culture its fascinating to see the inner details of how other countries influence was adapted and became a part of Taiwans own culture.
I think tatami room is a good example as well as some japanese style train stations, and tourist attraction land marks. I not Japanese Japanese.... it has its own unique taste to it. At the same time Japan embraces Taiwans accustomization to their culture.
It even goes deeper than that... to peoples workmanship even. That is pretty amazing. and this is why I have to try out the experience of tatami while I still can live in Taiwan. :)
Thanks for the comment~
I do 👍 Keep it up as your posts are great!
I've never seen a tatami room in real life, so your post has shown me something really interesting.
You have never seen a tatami room yet? Well you are in for a treat~ cause when the mats are finished I am going to blog post what it will look in the actual room. :) It will take a couple of weeks but I am pretty excited to see what it will look like too. It is my first time trying this out as well.
Thanks for your interest! I really appreciate it.
I've never been out of Europe, so you can imagine, these things are available to me only through internet or movies so I'm very interested. Can't wait to see your post and feel free to tag me so I don't miss it if things get crazy here :)
What I love most about the tatami room you posted here is the simplicity. I love it!
I can understand cause I only been to Europe for work and they never really gave me time to travel around, so I dont know much about Europe. Maybe this is a perk we gain in the Hive community cause we share experiences together.
For the next blog post I will try to make it as informative as posible since your very interested and never been outside of Europe. I will try my best for ya. :)
This give me a better focus on what I need to do in the blog post. Thanks!!
The Japanese tatami rooms I think the philosophy of its tradition has simplicity and a minimalist approach to the design, and way its used. However I can be wrong so I will do some research and post some info I got. heheheh.
Nice!!!
It's going to be a lot of fun reading it and I'm glad you are open to suggestions. Just think of how many have zero idea about the philosophy of its tradition and try to be as explicit as possible 😀
I can't wait! 💪
This is why I love Hive, you can learn a lot!
This is great cause it actually has a real focus and purpose for readers like you. Its also giving me more ideas on how to approach readers and give content ideas for creaters in the community as well.
Lets do this fo sho!!! :)
I'm in! 😁
(One thing I've learnt over the (almost) 5 years on the chain is to be as detailed as possible for those who are living at the other end of the world and have no idea the things I'm posting about exists. What is normal and common sense for me may be totally new and unknown to them and vice versa.)
Dude, I sympathize with Japanese culture, and this thing sounds pretty good. Yeah, it might be a bit expensive, but as long as it makes you happy when it's done, I'd say it's worth the price. This looks like a mat in our culture. Ours are made of inferior materials, of course, and much cheaper. I can't wait to see your beautiful Tatami 😅.
Thanks man~ Yea this is pretty new for me as well. And since we have a baby daughter we thought it might also be a good place for her to crawl and have a place to lay down. Most homes in Asia do not use a carpet so there is not many places to laydown on the floor. Price wise... yea... its a big chuck. But for family I am going to give it a go... lets see what the outcome will be. Fingers crossed as well. :)
I know nothing about Taiwan or japani culture. Your description about mixed culture of Taiwan and Japan take me to my childhood.I used to live in a village in India,father of mixed cultures.22 languages are spoken but number of communities is greater that it.
When I was in village I myself made this kind of matress with straw of rice plant but in city those memories has faded up.But those handcrafts are still available in the market but people of cities will never know how hardwork and emotion is there behind it.
Your article is nostalgic.I always love knowing different cultures; thanks for sharing it dude.
On a different note, I see you have a community called WorkLife. Good to know as I may be sending users over 🙂. I'm advising users posting in OCD, on which community their post would fit as OCD is for topics that don't fit in any other community, so it's good to know as many are posting about their work.
Yes! I just created the community for everyone to share what they do as a living and other work related experiences.
A lot of the post I make were realted with my work because for a time I was a workoholic and recently I am on a career break due to a burnout from work. Every time I post something about my work I actually get to re-evaluate myself and learn something new and different.
The issue was my work experience post I was not really sure where to post them. and one day @livinguktaiwan and I were chatting discord and boom synergy happened! We decided to make a community together. It will stary to ramp up once she is back home from the Hive Fest. She is still on travel so in the mean time we are preparing what ideas and I am also trying to keep posting to give some examples what to post in our community.
We do need all the help we can get and sure can use your support. I hope that I can help you with something too~ we will figure it out once we get to know each other. :)
Thanks so much!!!
OCD support would be mucho macho!
Nice!
I can't promise anything on that as that depends on many things and I'm not the one to decide, but we curate other niche communities too, so good posts from your community can be nominated.
Now that I know this community exists, I can redirect those who are posting about this topic and help your community grow. It's in our best interest to work together and grow Hive, isn't it? 😀
Absolutely, the goal here is growth. This is also same as with @livinguktaiwan, we got this cleared out~ so we're not here to try and get upvotes... we're here to "give" them. But it needs tranction and attention... for now I am pumping as much quality post I can so people can understand what they want to post. I will be the example and let others follow through. :) Of course I am not wanting a promise~ maybe I got too excited. heheheh. But I go by the rule books~ UKTaiwan knows me on this part well. :)
One firm step at a time~~~
You're already on the right track! I wish there could be more like you, honestly! ❤️
And I'm lucky to have met you!
Like wise~ without your guys guidance... I could have been very well in the wrong place at the wrong time in the Hive world. Its a long marathon... I really want this community thrive... I used to working Marketing in Mobile phone industry and the conversion rate (On-boarding) is way too slow... the potential is there but I realize are we even ready for rapid growth? maybe not yet.... so now is the time to grind.
To show that I am serious about it... I have face value in my HivePower I have invested. And now is to put it all to work... I did meet the right people to begin with and also @solominer is the one who brought me here in the first place... I had no idea what it was... hahahaha..
"Solo~ Whaaaa??? BlockChain and Blogging and you get reward money??? whaaaa? you smokin again bro?"
hahahahah~ Now I know.
I'm going to reply to this later as you have a lot of good points here.
I'd not say mine, but "guidance" is the keyword here! No matter where you register or what new things you are trying out, your success depends on who is guiding you or who you meet at the beginning. I see many joining Hive and leaving as fast as they joining. Which brings us to your next point.
Rapid growth is nice but Hive is not like any other platform out there. It's a complex one and needs time to learn. When I joined almost 5 years ago, things were 10 or 20 times simpler and it took me a week to see the structure, not to mention the economics. So onboarding is one thing, making people stay and thrive is a totally different one. Many are rushing to onboard new users, promising them earning possibilities and when they realize this is not a place to get rich quick, disappointment kicks in and they leave, some already blacklisted for plag or other abuse.
Helping newbies to find their way is paramount and this is why I appreciate what you are doing. I saw a comment earlier, left to a user that has joined Hive, after using steemit :)
So slowly, but steadily, I think we can contribute to growing this place and I'm glad you are in 😀
Yay! 🤗
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Yippy~ it worked!
Looks awesome, keep us updated!
fo sho~~~
Nothing can replace Cultural beauty and the more simplicity In it the more Creative and Good it comes out.
I Believe in "Culture" Supremacy! This tatami looks very fascinating tho haven't seen in our culture like it's not that common but if I would make furniture for my house Gonna choose this one.
Another Good and worth read of yours! Awesome dude and have a great weekend ahead.
Interesting craftmanship , making your own dojo ? I couldn't use that here on my floor since we have floorheating .
Don't feed the Sensei cookies 🤣
No cookies for sensei~ hehehehe. Its my first time making it so lets see how it will turn out. In Europe is floor heating common?
no i just happen to live in a relative new building from 2017, floor heating is more cost effective and less dust and dry air that you get from radiators, and it's in winter to walk bare feet on concreet with out getting cold feet. Our energy bill is pretty low also due to solar panels and good insulation out house has an energy label A , so i'm not complaining.
Thats great u have a good home with best insulation. winter is coming and i heard energy bills are off the roof lately.
These are what I call good karma. It was meant to be. :)
i'm very happy with my energy bill , i hear lot's of people that have to pay 3 times as much as i do
3 Times as much?? Who ever built the home maybe worked at Thermos.
By saving 3 times less the energy cost you can buy a lot of cookies. :)
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Tatami rooms are so Japanese!
Our humble home though does not have a tatami room because it's just a small one but I've been to some of my friends' house and they have the tatami mats in their room.
If you have the tatami room, you should be careful in maintaining it though. I heard it requires work to clean and make the room as beautiful as ever.
Some Japanese don't like Korea too, even til now. This should be changed. 😒
Very opposite of how Taiwan loves Japan.
Hey~ thanks for checking my post. :)
Because till recently I didn't know anything about tatami until I double downed on the hand-made investment(?), so been reading up on it. Its going to be my first one and my kids are probably going to roll around it, spill food, and create a mess if I don't take care of it. Because it is natural rice straw material cleaning the mat will not be the same as carpet or hard floor. I am learning as much as I can on this part. :)
The culture of how I am in the mix of Korean, Taiwanese, and Japanese is a very interesting one when all three is put together. With all three... nothing really makes any sense of who likes who and who hates what. I realize a lot of it has to do with what "the people" said at the time...
"I heard that Koreans... don't like this that." , "I heard Japanese... don't like here there."
Because my family has all three cultures married to Korea, Japan, and Taiwan... my point of view becomes very clear...with the music video here. That is how I think of it. :) Cheers
yesss, the lurker from Discord. 😂
Nice to meet you on chain hahaha
OH NO! Please be careful! The mats are expensive and it's going to be a hassle replacing them. I heard when one gets bad, everything should be replaced. So it might cost you a lot if there's going to be a mess. Good luck! 😂
But it's really nice and kinda comfortable having tatami rooms.
It's just kinda hard to maintain it.
After watching and listening to the music video, I can't help but sing the lyrics of the song in my head. 😂 These countries are really complicated but well, you are a mixture of them all so maybe in the future we might see them all joining hands~