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MARTES 1 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2020 | Año XLV | Número 15.843 | EDICIÓN MADRID | Precio: 1,70 euros
Pena de 15 años de cárcel a un entrenador en Castellón por abusos P36
GIMNASIA
La amarga verdad de ‘La dolce vita’ sale a la luz 60 años después P28 CINE
LA SEGUNDA OLA DE LA PANDEMIA DEL CORONAVIRUS
Noviembre deja 300 muertes al día, el peor dato desde abril Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias y Murcia registran su máximo de fallecidos E. DE BENITO / D. GRASSO, Madrid Noviembre se ha despedido como el mes más mortífero de la segunda oleada de la pandemia de la covid en España. Aunque las restricciones de movilidad,
horarios y aforos han contenido la escalada de contagios, el número de muertes notificadas por Sanidad ha aumentado hasta las 45.069, unas 9.200 defunciones más que al cierre de octu-
bre. Ello supone un incremento medio diario de unos 300 fallecimientos. El impacto ha resultado desigual por comunidades. En Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Murcia, Ceuta y Melilla, el mes
de noviembre ha sido el de mayor número de muertes de toda la pandemia, con cifras claramente peores que las de marzo y abril, que dieron lugar al confinamiento duro. PÁGINA 22
Iglesias presiona para indultar “lo antes posible” a los presos del ‘procés’ El sector socialista del Gobierno no ve sencilla la operación CARLOS E. CUÉ, Madrid El Gobierno afronta ya el otro gran reto de la legislatura: encauzar el conflicto catalán. Nada empezará a moverse hasta que los presos del procés no estén en la calle, admiten en privado varios miembros del Ejecutivo. Sin embargo, la fórmula para lograrlo genera muchas dudas. Pablo Iglesias, que lo tiene claro, presionó ayer y reclamó el indulto para que estén en libertad “lo antes posible”, incluso antes de las elecciones catalanas. El sector socialista del Gobierno no ve nada sencilla esa operación. PÁGINA 14
Desmantelado el campamento para migrantes de Arguineguín
IRÁN AFIRMA QUE EL CIENTÍFICO DE SU PROGRAMA NUCLEAR FUE AMETRALLADO POR CONTROL REMOTO. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, el padre del plan atómico iraní asesinado el viernes, fue enterrado ayer en Teherán con honores de Estado. El Gobierno aseguró que Israel utilizó “dispositivos electrónicos” e implicó en su muerte al grupo disidente Consejo Nacional de Resistencia (CNR). / EFE PÁGINA 5 / EDITORIAL EN LA PÁGINA 10
Ayuso inaugura hoy el Isabel Zendal a la cuarta parte de su capacidad prevista
Nuevo hospital, 13% de la plantilla ISABEL VALDÉS, Madrid Madrid cuenta desde hoy con un nuevo hospital en el que ya lleva gastados más de 100 millones. La presidenta Isabel Díaz Ayuso inaugurará el Enfermera Isabel Zendal, aunque solo se abre un pabellón que supone el 27% de su capacidad prevista. Definido como hospital de emergencias (pri-
mero lo fue “de pandemias”, concepto desconocido por los especialistas por falta de precedentes) y de inconcreto uso futuro, se pone en marcha también con una plantilla incompleta: 90 trabajadores sanitarios de los 669 previstos (un 13,4%). Los pacientes no empezarán a llegar hasta después del puente. MADRID
MARÍA MARTÍN, Mogán El campamento para inmigrantes del muelle de Arguineguín, en Mogán (en Gran Canaria), donde llegaron a hacinarse 2.600 personas, fue desmontado ayer por militares tras su desalojo en la noche del domingo. Termina así el improvisado complejo, en el que se han documentado violaciones de los derechos de los inmigrantes. El nuevo destino de los recién llegados estará en unos terrenos militares en Barranco Seco, con capacidad para mil personas, donde ya durmieron ayer 600. PÁGINA 16
El ‘caso Gürtel’ de 2008 a 2020: 67 condenados, 570 años NATALIA JUNQUERA, Madrid La trama Gürtel se ha plasmado en más de 5.000 folios de sentencias que di3bujan en 12 años un árbol de 17 ramas, según la recopilación de EL PAÍS tras la última condena, sobre la visita del Papa a Valencia. Once años después de que Rajoy declarase que era “una trama contra el PP y no del PP", 67 condenados —25 de ellos, ex altos cargos del partido— acumulan penas de 570 años. PÁGINA 18
Nxxx,2020-12-01,A,001,Bs-4C,E1
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Late Edition Today, variably cloudy, windy, showers, high 56, then falling. Tonight, partly cloudy, colder, low 38. Tomorrow, partly sunny, chilly, high 44. Weather map appears on Page B7.
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Long, Dark Winter Looms Before U.S. Gets Vaccines A Critical Period Before Biden Takes Office — Political Divisions Pose a Danger By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
TODD HEISLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Costumed characters in need of tourists. Pedestrian traffic in Times Square is roughly one-third of what it was before the pandemic.
Trump Attacks If There Are No Crowds, Is It Still Times Square? Square could slip back to its 1970s Unsettle G.O.P. self, a seamy neighborhood Fears That the Theater known for open crime, drugs and bus agent desperately Amid a Runoff triedA tour District Could Revert sex shows. to discern which passers-by By COREY KILGANNON
This article is by Lisa Lerer, Richard Fausset and Maggie Haberman.
President Trump’s sustained assault on his own party in Georgia, and his repeated claims of election fraud in the state, have intensified worries among Republicans that he could be hurting their ability to win two crucial Senate runoff races next month. The president has continued to claim without evidence that his loss in the new battleground state was fraudulent, directing his ire in particular at Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both conservative Republicans, whom he has accused of not doing enough to help him overturn the result. Over the weekend, he escalated his attacks on Mr. Kemp, saying he was “ashamed” to have endorsed him in 2018, and on Monday he called Mr. Kemp “hapless” as he urged him to “overrule his obstinate Republican Secretary of state.’' Mr. Trump’s broadsides have quietly rattled some Republicans in the state, who fear that concerns about the fairness of the presidential election could de-
BRYNN ANDERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. press turnout for the Senate races, which will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the chamber. After resisting entreaties to appear in Georgia, the president plans to travel there this weekend, though even some of his own aides remain uncertain whether his anger toward state officials will overshadow any support he may lend the party’s two candidates. “You can’t say the system is rigged but elect these two senators,” said Eric Johnson, a campaign adviser to Kelly Loeffler, Continued on Page A20
were New Yorkers and which ones were out-of-towners. Newlyweds from Maryland, hoping to celebrate their nuptials with a special dinner, had to settle for McDonald’s. Four homeless men sat on a sidewalk, sharing cigarettes and a pipe filled with marijuana. This is Times Square, jarringly quiet beneath flashing billboards. Times Square needs a crowd, which is as much a part of its character as the incessant lights. “Look around,” said Ronnie Boyd, 54, from Brooklyn, who has been selling souvenir hats and Tshirts on the sidewalk in the area
to the ’70s Version since 2004. “Without the Broadway shows, the office workers, the tourists, the crowds, you got no Times Square.” The throngs of visitors — the trademark of the famous neighborhood for more than a century — are gone. The air is no longer thick with the aroma of hot dogs and roasting nuts. Broadway theaters are closed. Office buildings are nearly vacant. And there is an eeriness to the emptiness, helping to stir the faint fear that Times
The neighborhood’s transformation — from gritty to “Disney” — was a significant chapter in the city’s revitalization, even as detractors criticized the new Times Square as losing its edge. Times Square has an outsize share of the city’s economic activity, despite occupying only 0.1 percent of the city’s land mass, said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, the area’s business improvement district. Before the pandemic, the square, where Broadway meets Seventh Avenue from 42nd to 47th Streets, helped to draw a crush of tourists to the city. A record 66.6 Continued on Page A6
Each week, good news about vaccines or antibody treatments surfaces, offering hope that an end to the pandemic is at hand. And yet this holiday season presents a grim reckoning. The United States has reached an appalling milestone: more than one million new coronavirus cases every week. Hospitals in some states are full to bursting. The number of deaths is rising and seems on track to easily surpass the 2,200-a-day average in the spring, when the pandemic was concentrated in the New York metropolitan area. Our failure to protect ourselves has caught up to us. The nation now must endure a critical period of transition, one that threatens to last far too long, as we set aside justifiable optimism about next spring and confront the dark winter ahead. Some epidemiologists predict that the death toll by March could be close to twice the 250,000 figure that the nation surpassed only last week. “The next three months are going to be just horrible,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and one of two dozen experts interviewed by The New York Times about the near future. This juncture, perhaps more than any to date, exposes the deep political divisions that have allowed the pandemic to take root and bloom, and that will determine the depth of the winter ahead. Even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to avoid holiday travel and many health officials asked families to cancel big gatherings, more than six million Americans took flights during Thanksgiving week, which is about 40 percent of last year’s air
traffic. And President Trump, the one person most capable of altering the trajectory between now and spring, seems unwilling to help his successor do what must be done to save the lives of tens of thousands of Americans. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has assembled excellent advisers and a sensible plan for tackling the pandemic, public health experts said. But Mitchell Warren, the founder of AVAC, an AIDS advocacy group that focuses on several diseases, said Mr. Biden’s hands appeared tied until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20: “There’s not a ton of power in being president-elect.” By late December, the first doses of vaccine may be available to Americans, federal officials have said. Priorities are still being set, but vaccinations are expected to go first to health care workers, nursing home residents and others at highest risk. How long it will take to reach younger Americans depends on many factors, including how many vaccines are approved and how fast they can be made. In mid-October, I surprised some New York Times readers by shifting from pessimism to optimism, with the epidemic in the United States most likely ending sooner than I expected. Now that at least two vaccines with efficacy greater than 90 percent have emerged, I am even more hopeful about what 2021 holds. But even as the medical response to the virus is improving, the politics of public health remain a deeply vexing challenge. The regions of the country now among those hit hardest by the virus — Midwestern and Mountain States and rural counties, includContinued on Page A10
COVID FATIGUE Doctors and nurses on the front lines are running on
empty as the pandemic surges and hospitals fill up. PAGE D1
Asia Dissidents Economic Team Lament Demise Suggests Focus Of Trump Way On Work Force By HANNAH BEECH
BANGKOK — A dissident once branded Enemy No. 1 by the Chinese Communist Party is spreading conspiracy theories about vote-rigging in the American presidential election. Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong are championing President Trump’s claims of an electoral victory. Human rights activists and religious leaders in Vietnam and Myanmar are expressing reservations about President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to keep authoritarians in check. It might seem counterintuitive that Asian defenders of democracy are among the most ardent supporters of Mr. Trump, who has declared his friendship with Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong-un of North Korea. But it is precisely Mr. Trump’s willingness to flout diplomatic protocol, abandon international accords and keep his opponents off-balance that have earned him plaudits as a leader strong enough to stand up to dictators and defend democratic ideals overseas, even if he has been criticized as diminishing them at home. As President-elect Biden assembles his foreign-policy team, prominent human rights activists across Asia are worried about his desire for the United States to hew again to international norms. Continued on Page A14
INTERNATIONAL A11-16
This article is by Jim Tankersley, Jeanna Smialek and Alan Rappeport.
WASHINGTON — Presidentelect Joseph R. Biden Jr. formally announced his top economic advisers on Monday, choosing a team that is stocked with champions of organized labor and marginalized workers, signaling an early focus on efforts to speed and spread the gains of the recovery from the pandemic recession. The selections build on a pledge Mr. Biden made to business groups two weeks ago, when he said labor unions would have “increased power” in his administration. They suggest that Mr. Biden’s team will be focused initially on increased federal spending to reduce unemployment and an expanded safety net to cushion households that have continued to suffer as the coronavirus persists and the recovery slows. In a sign that Mr. Biden plans to focus on spreading economic wealth, his transition team put issues of equality and worker empowerment at the forefront of its news release announcing the nominees, saying they would help create “an economy that gives every single person across America a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead.” Mr. Biden’s picks include Janet L. Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, as Treasury secreContinued on Page A19
SCOTT M cINTYRE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Students in Miami Beach. Studies say children under 10 transmit the coronavirus less efficiently.
In Reopening of Schools, Youngest Lead the Way By ELIZA SHAPIRO and KATE TAYLOR
After a summer of uncertainty and fear about how schools across the globe would operate in a pandemic, a consensus has emerged in more and more districts: Inperson teaching with young children is safer than with older ones and particularly crucial for their development. On Sunday, New York City, home to the country’s largest school system, became the most
New York City Follows a Growing Consensus high-profile example of that trend, when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that only pre-Ks, elementary schools and some schools for children with complex disabilities would reopen next week after all city classrooms were briefly shut in November. There is currently no plan to bring middle and high
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-10
BUSINESS B1-7
Moderna Seeks Authorization
Ad Lingo Runs Amok
The first shots of the drugmaker’s coronavirus vaccine could be given as early as Dec. 21, if emergency authorization is granted by the F.D.A. PAGE A4
Humaning. Snackable content. Marketing is overrun with buzzwords and acronyms, and some people are saying it’s enough already. PAGE B1
NATIONAL A17-23
ARTS C1-6
school students back into city school buildings. It was an abrupt about-face for the mayor, who had for months promised to welcome all the city’s 1.1 million children — from 3-yearolds to high school seniors — back into classrooms this fall. But the decision put New York in line with other cities in America and across the world that have reopened classrooms first, and often exclusively, for young children, and in some cases kept them open Continued on Page A8
SPORTSTUESDAY B8-9
SCIENCE TIMES D1-8
Angry Farmers Protest in India
Body-Camera Report Released
A Theater Duo Presses On
A Change Atop a Marathon
Made for Each Other
Tens of thousands of demonstrators, upset about farm policies, are blocking roads into New Delhi. PAGE A16
New York City police officers who wore cameras received fewer civilian complaints than those who didn’t. PAGE A23
Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw haven’t let the pandemic, or some memory loss, block their creativeness. PAGE C1
A surprise clutch of eggs has solved a century-old leaf insect mystery, showing that what scientists had regarded as two species was actually one. PAGE D8
Fueling Egypt’s Resistance
Justices Hear Trump on Census
What Lies Ahead for ‘Fargo’
Michael Capiraso, amid complaints about his leadership, is leaving as chief executive of the organization that puts on the New York City event. PAGE B9
Gasser Abdel-Razek, a leading human rights advocate in Cairo, had avoided arrest until last week. PAGE A11
The administration aims to drop some noncitizens from the tally, upsetting a constitutional consensus. PAGE A22
Noah Hawley, creator of the offbeat FX drama, discusses how the show is intersecting with current events. PAGE C5
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25
Bret Stephens
PAGE A25
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DJIA 29638.64 g 271.73 0.9%
NASDAQ 12198.74 g 0.1%
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXVI NO. 129 STOXX 600 389.36 g 1.0%
10-YR. TREAS. g 1/32 , yield 0.845%
HHHH $4.00
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OIL $45.34 g $0.19
GOLD $1,775.70 g $6.20
Iran Says Scientist Was Killed in Remotely Controlled Strike
What’s News Business & Finance xxon is retreating from an ambitious plan to increase spending to boost its oil-and-gas production by 2025 and is preparing to slash the book value of its assets by up to $20 billion. A1
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Facebook and Google face as many as four new federal and state antitrust lawsuits after the Justice Department’s antitrust action against Google in October. A3
S&P Dow Jones Indices said it would add Tesla’s full weight to the S&P 500 all at once before the start of trading on Dec. 21. B1
S&P Global’s proposed $44 billion acquisition of IHS Markit stands to solidify its position as one of the world’s largest financial-data companies. B2
Zoom posted another quarter of record sales and again lifted its earnings outlook, but the growth has come with higher costs that disappointed investors. B1
World-Wide
Moderna said it asked U.S. and European health regulators to authorize use of its Covid-19 vaccine, after it was shown to be 94.1% effective in a full analysis of a pivotal study. A1 An expert panel advising the U.S. is expected to recommend that front-line health workers and nursinghome residents be the first to get initial limited supplies of Covid-19 shots. A8 Coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the U.S. hit another record, with more than 93,000 people admitted as of Sunday. A8 Battleground states Wisconsin and Arizona certified election results, handing narrow victories to Biden and further cementing his win over Trump. A6
Several justices suggested the Supreme Court put off ruling on Trump’s plan to exclude immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally from population figures used to apportion congressional seats. A3 China accused American officials of harassing Chinese airline and shipping crews that arrive in the U.S. in attempts to single out Communist Party members. A3 The Iranian nuclear scientist killed last week was ambushed in a remotely controlled operation, Tehran’s top security official said. Iran has blamed Israel for the attack. A9 The U.S. and allies are pressing for a forensic audit of Lebanon’s central bank to uncover possible evidence of money laundering, corruption and ties to Hezbollah. A9 CONTENTS Arts in Review... A15 Business News...... B3 Capital Journal...... A4 Crossword.............. A15 Heard on Street.. B11 Markets................... B10
BY PETER LOFTUS
plummet this spring. Exxon said Monday it would now double its profits by 2027 but released no specific target for increasing its oil-and-gas production. Exxon executives said in recent months that the company is reassessing its production targets. Mr. Woods said in a statement that the company is foPlease turn to page A6
Moderna Inc. said it asked U.S. and European health regulators Monday to authorize use of its Covid-19 vaccine, after it was shown to be 94.1% effective in a full analysis of a pivotal study. The timing keeps the vaccine on track to become possibly the second to go into use in the U.S. by year-end—after one already under regulatory review from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE—with inoculation available to the general public likely in spring or summer. Moderna said some doses also could become available in Europe in December. In the 30,000-person trial, 196 subjects developed Covid-19 with symptoms after receiving either the vaccine or a placebo, Moderna said. Of those, 185 had taken a placebo, while only 11 had gotten the vaccine, indicating it protects against the disease. Moderna also said the vaccine appeared to be generally safe, though some subjects developed headaches and other mild to moderate reactions. “I think this vaccine is going Please turn to page A8
As oil surges, energy firms weather slump.......................... B3
Panel to consider who will be first to get vaccine................. A8
MEMORIAL: A funeral ceremony was held in Tehran on Monday for Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. The country’s top security official said Mr. Fakhrizadeh was killed in a remotely controlled ambush, an attack Iran has blamed on Israel. A9
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U.S. stocks slipped Monday but closed out November with hefty gains, with the Dow and Nasdaq both adding 12% for the month and the S&P 500 rising 11%. B1
Moderna Requests Covid-19 Vaccine Approval
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The nation’s system for providing jobless benefits has consistently produced inaccurate data and lowerthan-appropriate payouts to millions of workers amid the pandemic, the GAO said. A2
YEN 104.32
Timing could make shot the second for U.S. use by year-end after positive trial data
IRANIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
GM will no longer take an equity stake in Nikola under a stripped-down agreement, a significant retrenchment from an earlier pact that fueled investor enthusiasm for both companies. A1
EURO $1.1926
Opinion.............. A17-19 Personal Journal A13-14 Sports........................ A16 Technology.......... B4-5 U.S. News..... A2-3,6,8 Weather................... A15 World News...... A9-11
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Exxon Cuts Costs, Assets’ Value BY CHRISTOPHER M. MATTHEWS
Exxon Mobil Corp. is retreating from an ambitious plan to increase spending to boost its oil-and-gas production by 2025 and is preparing to slash the book value of its assets by up to $20 billion, as the struggling company reassesses its next decade. The Texas oil giant—which lost more than $2.3 billion over the first three quarters of this year after the coronavirus
GM Won’t Take 11% Of Nikola In Deal BY BEN FOLDY AND MIKE COLIAS
General Motors Co. will no longer take an equity stake in electric-truck maker Nikola Corp. under a stripped-down agreement, a significant retrenchment from an earlier pact that fueled investor enthusiasm for both companies. Under the revised deal revealed on Monday, GM still intends to provide Nikola with fuel-cell technology but it has nixed plans to take an 11% stake in the Phoenix-based startup in exchange for supplying engineering work and other services. The Detroit auto maker has also scrapped plans to build an electric pickup truck called the Badger for Nikola, a key part of an earlier agreement outlined in September. That deal got delayed after a negative short seller’s report raised questions about the readiness of some aspects of Nikola’s business, allegations the company said were false and misleading. The original agreement bolstered Nikola’s status as one of several highflying green-vehicle startups drawing attention from Wall Street. GM’s lending of its engineering and manufacturing expertise, and being granted a spot on Nikola’s board as part of the now-scrapped tie-up, had been seen as a validation of Nikola’s business model and growth prospects. For GM, the Badger piece of the deal had been seen as a boost for its broader plans to license its electric-vehicle technology, the potential of which has helped lift its share price in recent weeks. GM was to engineer and build the lightduty pickup truck for Nikola, using its proprietary battery system that will be used in Please turn to page A2 Tesla to enter S&P 500 at full weight this month.......... B1
America, and telegraphed a write-down of between $17 billion and $20 billion to come in the fourth quarter. The cuts are a course correction for Chief Executive Darren Woods, who in 2018 laid out a plan to spend $230 billion to double profits and pump an additional one million barrels of oil and gas a day by the middle of the next decade. That plan proved illtimed, especially after the pandemic caused oil prices to
pandemic wreaked havoc on fossil-fuel demand—released a reduced spending outlook for the next five years Monday. Exxon now plans to spend $19 billion or less next year and $20 billion to $25 billion a year between 2022 and 2025. It previously planned to spend more than $30 billion a year in capital expenditures through 2025. Exxon said it would stop investing in certain natural-gas assets, primarily in North
Low Rates Fuel Debt Bonanza
Franchise Relationship Frays Under Pressure of Pandemic
Borrowers have issued a record $9.7 trillion of bonds and other debt this year. B9 Global debt outstanding
Brand owners and the operators of stores are increasingly at odds
$300 trillion
BY MICAH MAIDENBERG AND HEATHER HADDON
250
Franchisees and executives at burger chains, hotels and fruit-basket shops used to count on chummy relations to bolster their businesses. Those days are over. Stressed by the hit to business from the coronavirus pandemic, store owners and corporate bosses at Subway, Econo Lodge and other companies are bickering publicly as never before. Companies are asking franchisees to buy equipment and adopt new safety protocols, moves they say are necessary to reassure customers during the pandemic and to grow thereafter. Franchisees are pushing back on store upgrades, promotional discounts and fees they say are excessive and undermine their profits. Some are agitating to replace executives or suing to change practices. “I get that franchising isn’t a democracy,
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but at the same time, it’s not a dictatorship,� said Keith Miller, who was among Subway franchisees resisting when the company asked operators during the summer to offer two foot-long sandwiches for $10, a price they said was unprofitable. Subway, incorporated as Doctor’s Associates Inc., said it communicates with franchisees daily and has allowed them to defer or skip royalty payments during the pandemic. It ultimately reduced the foot-long-sub promotion to online only. There has always been push and pull between franchisers—the corporations that own a brand, handle its strategy and set its standards—and the franchisees—those who own and operate the stores, hire the employees and deal with customers. An older approach that assumed both sides would pull in the same direction is giving way to a Please turn to page A12
Seeking a Tranquil Retreat? Try a Japanese Laundromat i
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Upscale laundries offer music for the dry cycle, organic ginger beer BY SURYATAPA BHATTACHARYA AND MIHO INADA TOKYO—The gift shop sells $138 tote bags, the cafe offers organic ginger beer and staff members have passed a national exam certifying their expertise. In Japan, at least, those are some features of the neighborhood laundromat. You won’t find grime under the machines or harshly lighted urban boredom at this country’s luxe laundries. Instead, in an aging economy that tends to shrink every cycle or two, the wash-and-dry business is growing thanks to high-end services. Chika Takayama, 52, a homemaker, visits her Tokyo laundromat almost every day, mostly for the dryers. At the laundromat’s cafe, people sip drinks and read magazines or work on their laptops. The
cafe closed for about two months earlier this year when the government declared a state of emergency because of the pandemic, but the laundromat remained open. The services also include curated background music, some of which is available on the laundromat’s “Laundry Musicâ€? CD. It features 12 songs including a number called “Moody Dryer.â€? Ms. Takayama tried listening to one of the songs at home. “It just wasn’t the same,â€? she said. “The music here felt soothing, beautiful‌maybe because the atmosphere is good and the lighting different.â€? The number of laundromats in Japan has doubled over the past two decades to 21,500 as they have evolved into a more stylish and convenient choice for working women and the elPlease turn to page A12
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