Can i use a JP toaster in the US?

12 comments

1. [deleted]

2. Depends. Maybe. Check the power specifications of the unit. Some appliances are built to accept a wide range of voltages and frequencies. But I suspect that a toaster will not be built with the intention to be used outside of Japan and so will not have the advanced power regulation that, say, a TV would have.

   Use a (good) transformer to convert U.S. power levels to match the Japanese ones and the toaster will be fine. Without a transformer the heating elements will run hotter than intended and could pose a fire risk or may damage the toaster. Even if the toaster is physically fine it will probably be more likely to burn your toast unless you set it to a level much lower than you would otherwise use.

3. Japanese electronics seem to work in America, and Vice/versa. There is a difference, but it doesnt seem to matter.

4. I have a Japanese toaster oven that works fine, with no converter, though if I run it and the microwave at the same time it pops the fuse. That could just be my house,though.

5. Idk my American appliances work just fine in Japan so I would assume a Japanese appliance would work fine in America.

   The largest difference I’ve noticed is Japanese outlets lack the grounding pin that is typical on American outlets. They make adapters that are cheap. But shouldn’t be necessary to use a Japanese non grounded plug on an American outlet.

   Edit: a bit of research says most Japanese outlets are 100v, but American outlets are 120v. You might actually want a transformer to step down the voltage. If you’re in America it would be way cheaper/easier to go to Wal Mart and buy a toaster for $15.

6. Items with heating elements are going to assume that you’re running 100v, so 120v will likely represent a higher voltage that the appliance was not designed for. Best use it just for display, at least you won’t need to clean it.

7. I think so. The power voltage seems to be similar enough to use Japanese appliances in the US and vice versa. I’ve used the same hair straightner in both countries w/ out an adapter for years, no issues.

8. The outlets and plugs are the same, but how many volts it takes may vary. You can get power dampers but I don’t know how they work

9. If you are thinking about using it in an apartment in the United States, many of them require that you only use appliances approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

10. If it weren’t a high-wattage item like a toaster, you could use a small unobtrusive converter like [this](https://smile.amazon.com/BESTEK-Universal-100-220V-Converter-Worldwide/dp/B07R2JMHQR/ref=sr_1_8?crid=8C6YW5YBGWSC&keywords=japanese+to+us+power+converter&qid=1656704995&sprefix=Japanese+to+US%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-8). But it’s only good up to 250W. The high-wattage ones I see are are all big and ugly.

11. A few people have lightly touched on this but it’s not so much a question of volts as **amps**. Solid-state electronics like computers, TVs, etc. have voltage regulators and since the voltage is not too different they will generally work fine between the 2 countries. A toaster is essentially voltage running across bare wires that have a certain resistance which is why they heat up. If you were to take a North American toaster to Japan you could use it because the lower voltage would mean lower amps so while it would take longer to toast the bread, it would be safe. In the other direction, the toaster will have more **amps** which will mean it will run hotter than designed.

    You can get a transformer to overcome this but it has to be able to handle the wattage. The power consumption of a 2 slice toaster is between 700 watts to 1000 watts, with an average being 750 watts. If you get a lesser transformer you will simply fry the fuse in it.

12. I’ve used many different things from Japan in the US, and for the most part things work just fine.

    Items like your toaster that have a heating element will tend to run hotter, which means that it will toast faster, and if you are wondering the heating element will be running around 20% hotter than it is intended to run.

    This means that a 1000 watt heating element would be running at 1200 watts, and a 700 watt heating element would be running at 840 watts or so.

    This actually becomes a bit of a real problem if the device with the heating element is designed to operate at really high power levels, because a 2000 watt heating element (100 volts at 20 amps) could pull as much as 2400 watts when plugged into a 120 volt outlet, which would overload a 15 amp circuit breaker (1800 watts max) and would be the limit for a 20 amp breaker, which is the largest size that’s used to power regular 120 volt outlets in the US.

    This means that trying to use a second item on the same circuit, is likely to cause circuit breakers to blow, which is the system letting you know that you are drawing too much power.

    Do keep in mind that this pretty much applies to appliances and devices with heating elements in them, and not so much to other types of devices.

    A US toaster or appliance that plugs into an “regular” outlet tends to top out at 1800 watts, which would be 15 amps, many kitchens actually are connected to a 20 amp circuit breaker, which is why/how one is often able to get away with using a toaster or other high power heating device and other non-heating element devices on the same circuit without tripping/blowing the breaker or fuse.

    And here’s the big kicker, from what I’ve seen so far, items with a heating element will tend to end up failing earlier than they should, especially if the item/device does not have a temperature control, because the higher voltage and corresponding higher temps, seem to cause the heating elements to “wear out” faster than they normally would/should, again related to that 20% increase in power/heat mentioned earlier. I cannot say for sure just how much earlier they end up failing, but in any case, it’s something I’ve noticed over the years.

    The right way to use Japanese devices that are designed to operate on 100 volts would be to use a step down transformer that has a capacity (wattage) that’s higher than the wattage that the items you are wanting to operate/use. Some of these devices are sold as step up/step down transformers, which allow the use of US spec devices in Japan without a loss of “power”.

    But don’t bother messing with the little “wall wart” type converters/adapters because they won’t work and are a waste of your money, and the ones that do work and will convert the voltages are usually limited to 50 to 100 watts or less.

    Just be sure that you are getting a transformer or converter that’s made to convert 120 volts to 100 volts, and not one that is made to convert 240 to 100, 110 or 120 volts, because that one won’t work.

    I did a quick search @ Amazon and here are some examples just so you can see what I am talking about.

    These are the first ones that came up, so I cannot say if these are the best deal, but in any case, this is the type of device that you would be looking at for:

    https://www.amazon.com/VCT-VT-1000J-Japanese-Transformer-Converts/dp/B000PC4SVU

    https://www.amazon.com/SM-1000J-Transformer-countries-protected-continuous/dp/B000J19KCE

    And this last type, is something I’ve not seen before, but it seems legit as well:

    https://www.amazon.com/120V-100V-Converter-appliances-Certified%EF%BC%BD/dp/B07L56PYZS

    I hope all this made sense and was helpful.

    Best wishes and good luck!