6 tatami room layout: how to furnish a 6-jo room in Japan

Under Japan's property-listing rules a 6-jo room is at least about 9.72 m². Push the bed against a long wall and keep one clear path, about 60 cm wide, from the door to the window. A single bed (about 97 cm wide) leaves room for a desk and storage; with a semi-double (120 cm) or double (140 cm), cut the furniture count with a storage bed or a low table.

In Japan, rooms are measured in tatami mats, or jo, and a 6-jo room is the classic bedroom or one-room flat. The actual area varies a little by region and building. This guide checks the numbers against official sources first, then fits a bed, a desk and storage into a one-person 6-jo room, and ends with a way to try designs on a photo of your own room.

How big is 6 tatami?

• Property listings in Japan use tatami counts on the basis that one mat means at least 1.62 m² (the room's wall-centre area divided by the number of mats). Six mats is therefore at least about 9.72 m².
• Mats themselves differ by region: Kyoma (honma) mats are about 1.91 × 0.955 m, Edoma (inakama) about 1.76 × 0.88 m. A 6-jo room in Kyoma is larger.
• In the 2023 Housing and Land Survey by the Statistics Bureau of Japan, an apartment in a multi-dwelling building averaged 50.31 m² of floor area and 20.60 jo of living rooms.
• So one 6-jo room is roughly 30 per cent of an average flat's living space, and it has to hold sleeping, working and storage.

The bed decides the room

1. 01Single (about 97 × 195 cm)The most common size in Japan. It leaves room for a desk and storage, even in 6 jo. Some makers, such as IKEA, use 90 cm, so match the mattress to the frame.
2. 02Semi-double (120 cm wide)More room to turn over. Choose a shallow or folding desk and keep storage under the bed so the walkway survives.
3. 03Double (140 cm wide)It takes about 30 per cent of the floor in 6 jo. Skip the sofa and let the bed be the sofa, or keep the rug and low table small.

The basic layout

• Put the bed against a long wall, with your head away from the window (cold air in winter, glare in the morning).
• Keep one path, about 60 cm wide, from the door to the window, and push the furniture to either side of it.
• Group tall furniture on the door side and keep the window side low, so the room looks larger as you walk in.
• Place the desk beside the window so the light falls from the side and the window does not reflect in the screen.

A real example from one photo

AfterBefore

This example is a living room, but a 6-jo bedroom or one-room flat works the same way. Take one photo from the corner by the door so the whole room is in it, then add a note such as “keep the bed”, “more storage” or “natural and calm”. Tap thumbs down on anything you don't like, or write what to change, and the room is redrawn.

Built from products sold in Japan

The furniture in a room redesign design is not imagined by the AI; it is real and for sale. In Japan the app searches in Japanese for products from local stores such as Amazon.co.jp, Rakuten, Yahoo! Shopping, Nitori and IKEA, checks each product photo, and only then draws your room with them. Tap a piece to open its page and check the size and price there.