On a crisp winter¡¯s day, Toshiyuki Namigai, who runs a tatami business in Tokyo, spreads out sheets of woven materials of varying thickness as he speaks with a regular customer ¡ª Anton Wormann, a Swedish entrepreneur who revives old, abandoned properties in Japan.
¡°The thicker the mats are, the more beautiful,¡± Namigai said, the samples in front of him showcasing a variety of densities and colors.
Sadly for Namigai, business has shrunk over the years. In his neighborhood in the capital¡¯s Sangenjaya district, the number of stores has decreased from 100 to 20 in the space of some 30 years. Nationwide, 26.9 million tatami mats were produced in 1996, but the figure plunged to 1.4 million in 2024, according to the farm ministry.
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