Living with a Coin Laundry Near Your Apartment: Convenience and Challenges During a Short Stay in Tokyo

Convenience of Having a Coin Laundry Near Your Apartment

Even during a short-term stay of a few months, living in an apartment in Tokyo can be challenging when it comes to doing laundry.

If you have a washing machine, it might not be a big problem. However, since I am only staying in this apartment for a few months, buying a washing machine feels wasteful financially. Even if I had the money, going out to purchase one and having the appliance store deliver and install it would be troublesome.

Furthermore, when there is a coin laundry within a two-minute walk from the apartment, the idea of installing a washing machine disappears entirely.

What is truly convenient to have near an apartment is not a convenience store--which can tempt you to waste money--but a coin laundry.

Operating Hours and How They Affect Daily Life

One downside is that the coin laundry near my apartment is only open until midnight. Unlike the washing machines and dryers in business hotels, it cannot be used 24 hours a day.

Therefore, if I work until the last train and return to the apartment thinking, "Now I'll do my laundry," I cannot use the coin laundry if it is already past 12:00 AM.

If you regularly work until the last train, or even on weekends, it becomes difficult to do laundry after work or to wash everything on your days off. Laundry tends to pile up.

As a result, there are times when I have to force myself to finish work early, return to the apartment, gather all the laundry, and head to the coin laundry before closing time.

Record of a Day When I Actually Used the Coin Laundry

Today, I came to the coin laundry not because of such circumstances, but simply because I was tired and went home early. It turned out to be a good opportunity to do laundry.

Even when tired, as long as I am not sick, coming to the coin laundry feels somewhat enjoyable. It is a nice change of pace.

I put 300 yen into the detergent-free drum-type washing machine (8 kg) and started the wash. The display showed a remaining time of 27 minutes. I sat on a chair and watched the laundry spin inside the drum.

Of course, I cannot stare at the machine for the entire 27 minutes, so I spent the time playing games on my smartphone and writing this blog article, enjoying a slow and relaxing moment.

Just as I began thinking that spending time like this is important once in a while, the washing cycle finished.

I took the laundry out of the drum-type washer and packed it into the bag I brought with me.

Carrying the bag, I moved to the dryer and placed the laundry inside, then closed the door. The dryer (15 kg) costs 100 yen for 10 minutes.

The drying process finished quickly, without feeling like I waited long.

After 10 minutes, shirts were dry, but towels and thicker clothing were still damp. I once added another 100 yen for an additional 10 minutes, but even then they did not dry completely. So today, I decided to stop here.

I will take the still-damp laundry back to the apartment and hang it to dry.