Why are Laundromats as Common as Convenience Stores in Japan?

Walking in the Japanese street, you will find out that laundromats are almost in every corner of the city just like spring bamboo shoots after the rain. Some laundromats are in the community of the residential houses, while some laundromats are hidden in the alley. They have been one of the unique street views. According to the East Japan Coin-operated Washing Machine Association, the number of laundromats in Japan exceeded 20 thousand in 2017. The quantity of laundromats is almost the same as the quantity of convenience store 7-11, which is famous for the number of its branches. This phenomenon attracted people’s curiosity: Why are there so many laundromats in Japan?

History

❑ 1960s

Tracing history, the first unmanned coin-operated washing machine shop for business appeared in Akabha, Tokyo around 1963. The facilities then included 4 coin-operated washers and 8 dryers. After that, the Tokyo Olympics brought an innovation in laundry equipment in Harajuku, Shibuya. In an underground room of an apartment, there were 26 washing machines and 4 dryers, satisfying many athletes’ laundry requirements.

Though there were automatic washers with water extraction functions, dryers, and washers with both washing and drying functions at that time, it was difficult to meet the needs of cleaning large sheets and bedding at home because the demand for dryers was relatively low, and the size of household washing machines limited to indoor space is generally not large.

As a result, communal laundries which provide big washers and dryers while charging little money eventually took a place in the neighborhood.

❑ 1970s

In the 1970s, the number of laundromats with coin-operated machines in urban regions greatly increased. After 1990, with the increase of people who live alone in the countryside, the small-scale laundromats also popped up. Nowadays, when the seasons shift, you can always see the residents in the neighborhood waiting in line to do laundry. Laundromats have been an indispensable part of their life.

Reasons

Then, in the context of the home washers being commonplace, why does the number of laundromats in Japan still increase instead of declining? The reasons are as follows.

❑ The Increase in Dual-income families

In the past, coin-operated washers were mostly used by single men who lived alone and had no washer at home. Now, more and more female users let the laundromats do the laundry for them, which has important relations to the change in modern family structure.

❑ Functions of Professional Washers

Despite the increase of female workers, the housewives also contribute to this phenomenon as well in fact.

Generally, the loading capacity of the household washers is about 7 kilograms. Clothes and textiles like down jackets and big carpets are not easy to clean. If there are several kids at home, the laundry work will become heavier. Sometimes, The laundry should be divided into 4-5 batches to wash and it may take almost a day for them to do the laundry and wait for the laundry to be dry. In addition, the household electric clothes dryer doesn’t have enough power to dry clothes so it will take about an hour to dry the clothes. The other type of gas dryer can complete drying tasks in just tens of minutes because of its stronger drying force. However, because of the harsh setting conditions, it is not suitable for most families or apartments.

● Kingstar self-service stackable washers and dryers have different specifications: 12kg, 15kg, 20kg, and 25kg, meeting the laundry requirements at one time efficiently and conveniently. The dehydration rate of the washing machines is high. With 300G dewatering factors, the clothes can have a low moisture content before being dried. The drying efficiency of the dryer is high as well.

As a result, after going to the laundromat, the laundry and drying tasks can all be finished, which is an indispensable helper for doing housework.  

❑ The Increase of Hay Fever Patients

Every year, from February to May, pollen from the native Japanese fir trees will fly in large quantities on the streets. This causes a big national disease that afflicts many Japanese people, "hay fever", that is, allergy symptoms caused by pollen such as fir trees.

According to the report published in 2016 by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of people receiving medication for allergic rhinitis (including those caused by hay fever) increased from 400,000 in 2012 to 650,000 in 2014, a 1.6-fold increase in just two years. Another article records that the population of people who are allergic to pollen reaches about 20%. For those people, drying clothes outdoors in the pollen season to alleviate or prevent allergic symptoms is a big taboo.

Therefore, self-service laundromats, which can wash a large number of clothes at one time and dry them quickly at high temperatures, are popular. Especially in the spring or rainy season when pollen is easy to disperse, many people also wash their clothes and quilts at home and especially go to the self-service laundry to dry.

❑ Evolution of Laundromats

Lastly, the environment and services of the laundromats are continuously developing. In recent years, more and more laundromats have begun to improve their environment, creating a clean, bright, and spacious room. At the same time, some laundromats have added cafeterias or convenience shops, making the shops with only washing and drying services more multifunctional and improving their will to go to laundromats.

Conclusion

In the future, the laundromats will keep playing an important role in the Japanese daily life, becoming an indispensable part of their lives. Kingstar, as a manufacturer of commercial coin-operated washers and dryers, will keep providing more efficient and more convenient self-service laundry equipment for customers.