Heartbreak Laundrette

Silver metallic trim accents a toned-down yellow enclosure. Its surface is as smooth as polished glass, with subtly rounded edges to eliminate any notion of sharpness. The yellow's warm hue resembles the traditional kuchinashi iro, a dye derived from the fruit of the gardenia. It is a friendly, approachable piece of industrial design that exudes cleanliness, featuring a playful, circular motif as its sole decoration. A discreet orange line across the glass door defines the machine's boundaries. Densely packed, yet meticulously arranged instructional details and controls are strategically placed at the top of the unit to maintain a clutter-free appearance. A neatly positioned slot channels thousands of ¥100 coins daily.

Before us stands the HCD-3257GC Gas Dryer, the largest in the iconic HCD dryer range by commercial washing equipment manufacturer AQUA. This juggernaut accommodates up to 25kg of laundry and is capable of drying even a bulky futon quietly and swiftly, at low running costs. Its counterparts, the baby blue HCW tilted-drum washing machine and the vermilion red HWD washer-dryer combo, visually contrast the HCD's yellow, forming a primary colour scheme when grouped together in a space. Core components such as circuit boards, motors, and belts are made in Japan—these machines offer not only appealing aesthetics but superior construction and performance. This dynamic array of industrial washing machinery is a common sight across roughly 2,300 coin-operated laundromats in Tokyo, referred to in Japanese as koin randorī, or simply coin laundry for our discussion today.

AQUA produces 75% of Japan’s commercial-grade laundry machinery, a statistic signifying not merely market leadership, but a profound grasp of Japanese culture and consumer nuances. To elucidate, I turn to Terada Minoru, regarded as the godfather of Japanese washing machines. Terada initially trained as a painter, but industrious mid-century Japan had another use for his abilities. His involvement with washing machines began in 1962, initially working on packaging for Sanyo Electric, before later spending time on the assembly line and ultimately transitioning to the sales department. There, he spent 28 years in product planning, ascending to become Chairman of the Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association Washing Machine Committee.

Terada's career path illustrates how astute business management harnessed creative talent for practical uses following World War II. For Terada, life as a product planner necessitated extensive global travels to observe firsthand how the world does its laundry. In recent years, strategy and brand consultants such as Christian Madsbjerg and Martin Lindstrom have revived and redefined the neglected practice of in-depth cultural engagement as a pathway to business success. However, this method was vital for Japan decades previously during its unprecedented economic expansion from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. Terada travelled to fifteen cities including Taipei, Manilla, Hamburg and Chicago in search of insights for Sanyo. His experiences overseas taught him a pivotal lesson: without a deep understanding of a country's culture, designing a successful washing machine is an insurmountable task.

Japan’s first electric washing machine was imported from America by Mitsui & Co. in 1922, and the first domestic model was released by Toshiba in 1930. Washing machines were not widely used in households initially, with their adoption only beginning to gain momentum in 1953, following the introduction of Sanyo's early line of affordable electric models. While these machines represented a technological advancement, they encountered cultural resistance, posing challenges to the acceptance of washing machine technology. “I don't remember the exact details,” recalls Terada in an interview with the Mizkan Water Culture Centre, “but there was an advertisement featuring Hanako, the elephant at Ueno Zoo, sitting in a bathtub, claiming that the amount of laundry a housewife washes in a year is equivalent to the effort of washing an elephant.”  Hanako was the first elephant to reach Japan post-World War II. She endured a life of hardship but was being employed as an unconventional quantitative analogy to communicate to the public the convenience that a washing machine could bring to their lives.