Hotels with Japanese / Japanese-Western Room

Many families traveling with babies and toddlers choose a Japanese-style room (washitsu, with tatami mat floors) or a Japanese-Western room (washitsu-style tatami area combined with beds). Even if you worry about a baby tumbling off a Western-style bed, futon bedding laid out on tatami lets crawling and toddling little ones play and sleep right on the floor, so the moments when you look away feel a lot less stressful.

A room with a tatami area is also handy for diaper changes, getting dressed, and baby food time, and you can add a baby futon to sleep side by side as a family. In a Japanese-Western room, beds and tatami are combined, so families with siblings of different ages can choose how everyone sleeps. Adults can also sit on the floor at their children's eye level and spend the time before bedtime on the same level together.

Japanese and Japanese-Western rooms vary quite a bit from one property to the next, in tatami space, number of futons, and whether beds are included. When you book, check how large the tatami area is and whether extra futons can be added, and make sure the layout suits your party size. If you have a child who is just learning to walk, it also helps to ask about any step at the entrance to the tatami area and whether the tatami has raised edges, to prevent trips.

Tatami space matters most when your baby is starting to roll over and crawl, so choose a room with plenty of tatami while your child is young, and a Japanese-Western room if your children's ages are far apart. Either way, setting up sleeping arrangements during your stay should go more smoothly.