The Moving Beddo

Going to bed in Japan these days often requires a good night's sleep in advance. No more can the weary traveler anticipate curling up on the traditional straw mat, bundled between layers of silken spreads--or even on a regular bed, which is still rare in Japan. Instead, he is likely to find himself a helpless passenger aboard a vehicle that sways from side to side, swoops abruptly to the ceiling, or flips up and down in three-quarter time. For a beddo only sounds like a bed. In fact, it is an electronic adventure.

The Japanese yen for "play beds" started slowly enough. First there were the "come-come" models--twins that shot together at the flick of a button. Soon came the "miracle series," or circular double beds, each installed on a turntable on the floor and surrounded by such inbred in-bed necessities as a TV set, refrigerator, hi-fi and completely stocked bar. Only a handful of fun-loving householders could afford a price range of $1,000-$13,000, of course, but the Western-style hideaway hotels in the countryside snapped up the beddos. Hotel guests were only too delighted to spend $2.70 (for one hour) or $10 (for the night) for the chance to join a uniquely Japanese movement.

Now there is the Pegasus, a double bed that climbs three feet up and down; the Seesaw, which makes the bedroom a playground; and the Seesaw Pony, which not only teeters but simultaneously flips a center section up and down. There is an Apollo series, double beds with built-in hi-fi and lighting system designed to create a "mesmerizing bedroom mood," and the Fantasia series, which throws in a movie projector and screen as well.

Greater Bliss. "What's the fun of hopping into beds for the same eternal routines?" asks Buntaro Nagasaka, manager of the Hotel New Japan in Kobe. "We provide our patrons with something new and exciting in beds to help trigger a greater bliss for them." The most sensational trigger: a double bed that moves slowly upward eight feet into a mirror-covered nook in the ceiling. Another, simpler model features a mirror that drops suddenly to a position only four feet over the bed. Explains Manager Nagasaka: "Shocked and terrified, your partner is bound to grab hold of you."

Adds Mr. Nagasaka: "We dress the Western way, we eat Western foods, we work in Western milieus, and we even dance gogo. The trend toward Westernization has at long last begun making us sleep the Western way."

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