Staying overnight in a Japanese home does not necessarily mean being shown to a dedicated guest bedroom.
A common arrangement is to lay out futons for the night in a room that is normally used as a living room or tatami room.
If the household keeps spare futons, they can be taken out of a closet and used to make a sleeping space for the guest. If two or three people are staying, several futons may be laid out side by side in the same room. Guests do not necessarily each get a separate room.
There is nothing particularly unusual about accommodating guests this way.
Because futons can be folded and put away when they are not in use, the same room can serve as a living space during the day and a bedroom at night. Once the futons are put away in the morning, the room returns to its usual purpose.
Tatami rooms are especially well suited to this kind of flexible use. A low table can make the room a place for meals or conversation, while moving the table aside and laying out futons turns it into a sleeping space.
Of course, Japanese homes today vary widely. Some have no tatami rooms and are built around beds, while others may have a spare room that is used as a guest room. The arrangement also depends on the size and layout of the home and on how many people are staying.
Even so, there is not a strong expectation that every home should keep a dedicated guest bedroom ready at all times.
When guests stay over, taking out futons and turning an ordinary room into a bedroom for the night is still a perfectly natural way to accommodate them in Japan.
