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Apr 20 2018 10 Comments

A lonely looking, but oddly beautiful laundrette?

A lonely looking but beautiful Japanese laundrette

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gem says

    4/20/2018 at 3:51 pm

    Dunno about beautiful but it’s way nicer than any laundromat I’ve used.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/20/2018 at 9:01 pm

      For me it’s certainly more striking than any I’ve used, and at the same time those lights in the darkness do have a beauty of sorts.

      Reply
  2. cdilla says

    4/20/2018 at 4:11 pm

    That’s a lovely photograph. Isolated. Lonely.
    It’s a real goldfish bowl at night.
    A few years ago there was a webcam in a small Japanese launderette like this – well, it was a little bigger, and though empty most of the time I looked, it had a strange appeal, as does this one.
    I saw a program on one in Japan, and was suprised it got a lot of use when it was raining as people brought their washing to use the dryers.
    All the laundrettes have gone from around here, and when my son was looking for one in Birmingham I had trouble finding any within 5 miles of him. When I was at university there was one on every street – or so it seemed.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/20/2018 at 9:10 pm

      Cheers. Yeah, there’s certainly something about it. A goldfish bowl is a great way of putting it.

      Perhaps surprisingly there are still a good number of them in Tokyo. New ones are appearing all the time as well. In fact just recently an Eco Coin Laundry Cafe opened near me. An idea that seemed an odd one, but it just goes to show what I know, as I passed it last weekend and it was busy. Really busy.

      Reply
      • cdilla says

        4/20/2018 at 9:20 pm

        Looking at the floorspace afforded by lower rent appartments in the Tokyo area it doesn’t suprise me that a washer/dryer isn’t necessarily the highest priority.

        Reply
        • Lee says

          4/21/2018 at 10:02 am

          That’s very true. My tiny first apartment here actually had space for a washing machine, but it was outside the door in the passageway. Almost as public as a laundrette!

          Reply
          • john says

            4/21/2018 at 9:29 pm

            and here the seating is outside!

            Reply
            • Lee says

              4/22/2018 at 8:36 am

              Yeah, clearly it doesn’t rain much there, or they really don’t want people hanging about inside!

  3. john says

    4/21/2018 at 9:30 pm

    My first thought was of digital cameras with the lenses removed.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/22/2018 at 8:37 am

      Interesting. Hadn’t thought of that at all, but looking at it now, it’s hard not to see it.

      Reply

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