Hi everyone,

I haven't seen anyone ask about this, but my BF and I were wondering about the availability of laundromats or laundry service in Tokyo and/or Kyoto. We'd like to pack as lightly as possible, but this would probably require clothes washing at some point, especially in the hot, humid month of August. I've washed out smaller items in hotel sinks before, but this was a problem in Thailand because nothing would dry (I guess because of the high humidity). I'm afraid we'd have the same problem in Japan because of the anticipated weather.

Thanks,
Judy

I usually find that if you squash all the water out of your washing between a few towels & hang it in your hotel bathroom it will dry quite quickly. I have done this in April & also early July. I was surprised that most things dried overnight if I left the light/fan on & the door closed. I even managed to dry some jeans in 2 days in Hokkaido in April in my hotel bathroom.

The ryokan I stayed in when I was in Tokyo and the business hotel I was at three weeks ago in Kyoto both had a laundry to be used by the guests. I didn't actually see or use them but it seems more common there?? Also both rooms had refrigerators - empty, not minibars....

Laundry service...through the hotel will be expensive, but very convenient. Outside service tends to be limited to dry cleaning.

There are laundromats, usually called "coin laundry," in some very strange places, seldom where you'd expect them to be. They are easy to spot though...they look just like you'd expect...washers and dryers in a line.

If you use a laundromat, you might check to see if you need to use laundry soap, as many have the detergent automatically dispensed into the machine and it's included in the price...adding more produces a suds fest.

And, as Mara mentioned, some places have laundry faciities, generally ones that cater to longer staying guests, budget international tourists or students.

Washing by hand and hanging in the bathroom works pretty well for lightweight things such as swimsuits, underwear and light shirts. Heavier things take longer to dry, even t-shirts, so I wouldn't wash anything unless you were planning to stay put for a couple of nights.

This is all reassuring. japanfreak, I'm especially glad to hear that you didn't have any problem having your clothes dry in your hotel bathroom. I washed things out in our bathroom in Bangkok and they didn't dry for over 2 days. Thank goodness my daughter had bought a pair of those pants that you kinda put on like a diaper with ties in front and back. Because they were one-size-fits-all, I was able to wear them the day we went to Koh Samui and then because we were on a beach, I wore a sarong as a skirt the second day. Otherwise I would have been in "no clothes" trouble.

jlaughs, I am rather obsessive about finding laundry facilities when we travel, so I hear where you are coming from. We stayed at Asakusa in Tokyo, and there are at least two coin laundries there... unfortunately one of them was closed the day we needed it, so we had to walk further to the other one. Our hotel manager advised against using the laundry service through the hotel, because it was very expensive - if I remember correctly, about 100 yen per item of underwear even... that can add up quickly. We took some tubes of liquid soap and washed our "smalls" in the sink each night, and just used the laundromat for the larger items when we needed to.

I know you will probably think this is very sad, but oh the feeling of relief/security/pure joy when we had finished and had a huge pile of fresh, warm, folded clothes to continue our travels with.

ozgal, actually after my experience in Thailand, I can very much understand your feelings. I usually overpack, but I really ran into a problem in Thailand. Weather was hot and humid, so clothes absolutely could not be worn more than once. I had thought that I might be able to buy clothes, but couldn't really find much in my size that I liked. (My daughter, the toothpick, on the other hand cames back with TONS of clothes). I also made the mistake of assuming that I would be able find irons in the hotels (either in the rooms or borrowed from the hotel). This was a "no go". I know that laundry service in Thailand is in

Now to finish the rest of my sentence...

inexpensive, but the timing never seemed to work out for us.

Thanks!
Judy