• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

  • Photowalks
  • Book and Prints
  • Newsletter
  • Portfolio
  • About/Contact
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • RSS

Nov 22 2022 10 Comments

The signage and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

Over the last few years or so there has been something of a boom in fancy coin laundries that also double as coffee shops, providing spaces people can actually relax in rather than simply return to. In Tokyo’s older neighbourhoods, however, it’s still the traditional versions that tend to dominate. Smaller and decidedly more dated places that aren’t anywhere near as comfortable. But while they may lack creature comforts, they make up for it with character, retro detergent dispensers, and somewhat inexplicably, cute dog pictures.

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

signs and little details of Japan’s dated coin laundries

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steve says

    11/22/2022 at 9:23 am

    I like these. You have made coin laundries look interesting! 🙂

    Reply
    • Lee says

      11/23/2022 at 2:51 pm

      Thank you. They are certainly interesting to look at and into, but not sure they’d be quite so interesting if you had to use them regularly…

      Reply
  2. cdilla says

    11/22/2022 at 7:40 pm

    What a treasure of photographs. Love the details, the benches, the faded lost cat flyer, the pile of shells, the snowman! and that’s just from the first one. And that proved an interesting starting point for a wander around the area. Just a block away is what could be taken for a relocation of a small part of Angkor Wat (https://rainbowsharpsleep.com/overgrown.jpg).
    Definitely an area to wander around.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      11/23/2022 at 2:53 pm

      Cheers. Yes, the more you look the more you find.

      Oh, interesting. Thanks. Looks like I need to go back for another wander. Not somewhere I’ve spent an awful of of time, but there’s clearly a lot more to see.

      Reply
  3. Denise says

    11/23/2022 at 11:14 am

    I was taken back to my student days with these but we didn’t have cute doggie pictures to enjoy! 🙂 🙂

    Reply
    • Lee says

      11/23/2022 at 2:55 pm

      Haha, no, can’t say I ever saw any either!

      Reply
  4. Marc says

    11/24/2022 at 4:25 am

    Somewhere in Tokyo (possibly a kilometer west of Shibuya station) we witnessed a man walk in, place his bag of laundry in the machine, take of all his clothes & put those in the machine. Then proceeded to take a bath in the sink.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      11/24/2022 at 7:55 am

      Wow, that was quite the experience. One to remember that’s for sure.

      Some coin laundries have showers, but clearly he much preferred a bath!

      Reply
  5. Martin B says

    11/25/2022 at 1:37 pm

    The first shot once again sums up what you’ve documented about the real Tokyo, forget the central shopping area with the bright gaudy video adverts, this is what I imagine living in Tokyo feels like (or at least what I would like to think living in Tokyo should be like), the little family owned laundromat with a vending machine outside.

    What would Tokyo be without the little family owned outlets that have the ubiquitous vending machine out front?

    Reply
    • Lee says

      11/26/2022 at 8:39 am

      Totally agree. Where people go for entertainment, shopping etc is for most Tokyoites very different from where they live. And yes, the top photo is much more what a lot of Tokyo looks and feels like. It’d be a lot less interesting without such sights too.

      Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Copyright © 2025 · Tokyo Times