When you open a shop or a clinic in Japan, the rules set a minimum size for some rooms: a pharmacy's floor, a hair salon's work room, a day service's dining and training rooms, and the space per patient in a patient room. Here are four examples an AI checked in earlier articles, with the tool it calls over MCP (check_space, its floor-area-per-person check).
1. Room by room
| Room | Rule | Area | Required | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A dispensing pharmacy: waiting and sales, counter area, dispensing room and stock room together | Pharmacy facilities ordinance | 81.39 m² | About 19.8 m² | Enough |
| A dispensing pharmacy: the dispensing room | Pharmacy facilities ordinance | 11.20 m² | 6.6 m² | Enough |
| A dispensing pharmacy: waiting and sales (as a drugstore) | Pharmacy facilities ordinance | 48.36 m² | About 13.2 m² | Enough |
| A hair salon's work room (six styling chairs, two shampoo) | Chiba and Morioka's count | 30.41 m² | 29.7 m² | Enough (up to 8 chairs) |
| A hair salon's work room (six styling chairs, two shampoo) | Tokyo's count | 30.41 m² | 19 m² | Enough (up to 11 chairs) |
| A day service: dining and training rooms (30 places) | 3 m² per place | 95.04 m² | 90 m² | Enough (31 places) |
| A clinic's four-bed room | A clinic's patient room (4.3 m² per bed) | 23.92 m² | 17.2 m² | Enough (up to 5 beds) |
| The same room in a hospital | A hospital's patient room (6.4 m² per bed) | 23.92 m² | 25.6 m² | Short (up to 3 beds) |
The pharmacy facilities ordinance is Japan's Ordinance on Buildings and Facilities for Pharmacies. Chiba Prefecture, Morioka City and Tokyo each set a hair salon's work room size by local ordinance.
2. What they show
- The same room passes one rule and not another. The salon's 30.41 m² work room allows 8 chairs by Chiba and Morioka's count and 11 by Tokyo's. A four-bed room of 23.92 m² is enough for a clinic, but a hospital may put only 3 beds in it.
- Count the right rooms. A pharmacy's floor is its waiting and sales area, counter area, dispensing room and stock room, 81.39 m², without the staff room and toilet; a day service's is its dining and training rooms, 95.04 m².
- The check also tells how many fit. The day service's 95.04 m² holds 31 places, enough for its 30.
3. The articles
- Is the dispensing room big enough? Check a pharmacy's sizes with your AI
- How many styling chairs can a hair salon have?
- How many places can this day service take?
- A clinic's patient rooms at 4.3 m² per bed, a hospital's at 6.4 m²
4. How to ask an AI
In this tenancy (as drawn), check whether the pharmacy's waiting and sales area, counter area, dispensing room and stock room together, and its dispensing room, reach the sizes in the Ordinance on Buildings and Facilities for Pharmacies.
5. What this does not cover
- The size of a hair salon's work room differs by local ordinance. Check the one where you open.
- For a final answer, check with the public health centre or the office in charge.
