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The Case for Japan's Amazing Clothes-Drying Bathrooms

Why don't we all have bathrooms that can dry laundry, too? 

This vent device, installed in the ceiling of many
bathrooms in Japans, doubles as a powerful clothes dryer. 

This vent device, installed in the ceiling of many bathrooms in
Japans, doubles as a powerful clothes dryer. 

Photographer: Eddy Duan/Bloomberg
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By Feargus O'Sullivan
May 22, 2024 at 9:30 AM EDT
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There's a gulf between Europe and America, and it involves laundry.
When it comes to drying clothes, the former relies largely on
air-drying, laying their clothes on racks or hanging them on lines
outdoors. Households in the US and Canada mostly tumble-dry their
laundry in mechanical dryers. The chasm is pretty marked: Europe's
greatest dryer enthusiasts, the Danes, use machine drying for just
28% of their laundry, while an estimated 80% of American households
tumble-dry weekly.

It's a gap that has persisted for decades, much to the puzzlement of
international visitors. But in Japan, travelers from either side of
the Atlantic are often surprised to discover a third way of drying
clothes: Behold the yokushitsu kansouki.

 
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