The contemporary Western futon is a relatively recent phenomenon (unlike its timeless Japanese ancestor), but like the Internet, it didn’t take long to catch on. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1980’s that today’s futon began to valiantly break through the sea of couches and other less imaginative options on the market and started to turn some heads.

I’ve been researching the beginnings of the futon, and since this is the “Futon News” section of the website, why not show you when the futon began to get some attention from the nation’s news elite?

The earliest mention I’ve found so far is the article entitled “Futon Fever” by none other than Time Magazine, published early in Ronald Reagan’s first term on October 26, 1981:

Usually it is the Japanese who copy and improve American-made products. But some savvy U.S. business people are aiming to beat the Japanese at their own game. They are designing and selling spiffed-up versions of the traditional Japanese futon, or sleeping mat, to none other than eager American shoppers. Traditional Japanese futons are thin, muslin-wrapped cushions. U.S. makers have thickened the cotton stuffing in futons, covered them in designer fabrics and succeeded in promoting the joys of “all-natural sleep.”

Next up is an article from the paper of record, the New York Times, entitled “The Futon’s Comfort is Winning Converts,” published on June 4, 1987:

Five years ago futons were purchased as space savers,” said Nancy Wykstra, owner of the Futon Shop on lower Broadway. ”Now people have discovered them as comfortable beds.” Irv Weider, owner of Arise Futons, said buyers used to be primarily the avant-garde, but now a wider range of people are interested in the Japanese sleeping mats.

It’s funny to look back at how futons were interpreted when they were first introduced. The TIME article mentions that a new foam-cotton mattress had disturbed some “futon purists,” who expected a traditional all-cotton construction. Nowadays, almost all top-quality futon mattresses are expected to have some sort of foam interior.