Hey, I will use a Japanese washing machine for the first time and I can’t see that anyone has asked about using them so I have listed five questions below and named them A1-D.
A1) I read the following about the ドライ-mode: “Often mistaken for drying clothes, the “dry” course is actually the “dry cleaner” mode that is best for delicates.” Then what is the difference between ドライ-mode for delicates and 念入り-mode also for delicates?
A2) I have some clothes that should be washed using a “hand wash” program with 30 degree Celsius water or colder. Should I use the 念入り-mode for that?
B) There’s no way I can wash my suits with the ドライ-mode, right? According to the instructions, they should be dry-cleaned (washing with water will damage them.)
C) Should I use the Blankets-mode for sheets (along with underwear?) These should be washed in 60 degrees Celsius.
D) Should I use Standard wash mode for “normal” clothes that are usually washed in 40 degrees Celsius?
19 comments
Personally I wash all my stuff on the standard cycle. 念入り would be the opposite of delicate wash. On my machine it’s called がんこ. For when things need a little extra washing, longer soak time etc. Does your machine use hot water? Or are you just mentioning temperatures for reference? If something should be hand-washed but you want to use the machine, maybe put it in a net laundry bag. For a nice suit I think a dry cleaner would probably be best.
Do people actually use different water temps in Japan? I’ve never seen a washer here with temp settings, but I’m just a poor guy. That said, I’ve never heard of that dry-mode either. Mine has a dry setting that just does an extra fast spin to take out more water. I’m intrigued by your fancy machine.
Is your machine washing with hot water? Most don’t
Some tips for standard washing machines in Japan :
– They’re shit
– They don’t heat water
– Use nets. They destroy your clothes
– You’ll often need to go to the coin laundry to dry your clothes because it spins so slow your clothes still are soaking wet when the machine ends
– You’ll have to pre-wash everything that has stains or is smelly
​
Compared to a 200€ washing machine in Europe, it looks like you came back to the 80s. Basically it’s a f*ing useless piece of metal.
The main differences with the settings are soaking time,
Washing time, number of rinses, revolutions per minute.
– Just use the normal mode for almost everything.
– Nets very important for delicates
– For stains you might (will) need to pretreat
– Your standard machine here does not heat water. Detergents are apparently “super designed to work extra well in cold water”. I don’t believe it, I didn’t make the experience, others swear everything works for them. Judge by yourself.
– Don’t wash your suits, what the fuck. Get a brush, brush them off after each wear, let them air out. Bring to the dry cleaner only when the smell of last night’s nomikai won’t go out.
But for you to have an overview, here is a list of all the great functions you might encounter that all work extremely well. /s
**General Settings:**
– 電源入/切 – Power On/Off Button
– スタート – Start
– 一時停止 – Pause Briefly
– コース – Menu
– チャイルドロック – Child Lock
– 行程 – Length/Duration
– 水位 – Water Level
– 槽洗浄 – Clean Washing Machine
– ミュート – Mute
– 予約 – Set Washing Time
– 風呂水 – Use Bathtub Water
**Wash Settings:**
– 洗濯 – Washing
– つけ洗い – Wash Well
– 洗い – Wash
– すすぎ – Rinse
– 脱水 – Spin
– おまかせ – Automatic Program
– わたし流 – Can be programmed yourself
– 念入り仕上げ – Intensive Wash
– パワフル – Intensive Rinse
– ナイト – Night Mode for Quiet Wash
– 上質おうちクリーニング – Hand Wash
– 毛布 – Wash Blankets
– 洗剤量目安 – Detergent Amount Level
– 水位 – Water Quantity
**Dryer Settings:**
– ナチュラル送風 – Gentle Dryer
– ソフト乾燥 – Gentle Dryer
– ふんわりキープ – Keep Clothes Soft After Drying
– 標準 – Standard
– しっかり – Dry Well
– スピーディ – Quick Dry
– 洗濯~乾燥 – Wash & Dry
– 乾燥のみ – Dry Only
**Time Settings:**
– 時間 – Time
– 9 → Wash in 9 Hours
– 6 → Wash in 6 Hours
– 15 → Wash in 15 Hours
**Other Controls:**
– ドアロック – Door Lock
– 洗・乾切換 – Change Wash/Dryer Mode
As mentioned by others, washers here are useles. First thing I bought was one that can at least do 60° when I moved.
Good luck.
Is there a reason why Japanese home washing machines are not considered great?
(We almost always use public laundromats when we visit, and those are seem pretty similar to US ones, albeit smaller)
Honestly, unless you have a fancy, high-end model or something, the difference between different modes isn’t significant enough. As other commenters have mentioned, virtually no washing machines have hot water, unless they’re directly connected to a hot water line, which I’ve never seen/heard of.
Suits go to the cleaner for me, and I take blankets and sheets to a coin laundry (which has no settings) because my washing machine is just small enough that I can’t wash my blanket along with a batch of clothes.
A1. 念入り is like a heavy duty cycle. My machine says it is for thicker clothes, etc. I don’t know what your ドライ mode is, maybe a delicates cycle.
A2. No, see above.
B. Probably not a good idea.
C. When I use the blanket mode it just usually takes longer because the washer adds more water and does more cycles
I’d just wash your sheets on standard setting possible.
D. Yes. For most situations, hot water washing isn’t necessary. https://www.nytimes.com/guides/smarterliving/how-to-do-laundry
念入り, although it does translate to “careful”, means more like “thorough” (eg. “after careful consideration of your proposal…”).
My advice is that if you’re a westerner who sweats a normal amount for a westerner in Japan’s summer heat (in other words ten times more than a Japanese person), then you will *always* want to use the “soak” mode. Throw in your laundry, *extra soap* (more than the bottle says is necessary) and some [Shabondama Oxygen Bleach](https://amzn.asia/d/6oI1M5e), and then set your machine to soak your clothes for 40 minutes or so before actually washing them.
It takes more than twice the time, but I’ve found it’s the only way to keep my clothes from developing that rancid sweat and must smell over multiple washes.
Washing machines here are connected to the cold water tap only. We got one that heats water for our house but even that one is connected to the cold water tap so if you’re used to the machine mixing hot and cold from the taps you will get confused. Hot water washing is a premium experience here as we learnt when we built our house
I was surprised when I saw stand alone dryers on the roadside. Like little kiosks of 4 dryers. My wife mentioned that most homes don’t have dryers.
The first washing machine I had when I came to Japan- supplied by the company I was working for- was so bloody ancient. You had to manually turn on, fill, & stop the water in the main drum. Then let it soak/wash. Then flip a switch to drain it. Then move everything into a small spinner (which could only fit one pair of pants or maybe two shirts), spin it to “dry” stuff out, throw it all back into the big drum. flip the switch & turn the faucet to fill it back up for the rinse cycle, then back to the small spinner after it was all done again. It was probably faster than using a washboard and doing everything by hand in the bathtub, but not by much.
I think others have covered the main points in regard to your questions. I’ll just add that generally speaking, people don’t have clothes dryers here (unless you are rich enough to have a huge space & the luxury of purchasing one on your own- most of us don’t). That requires a trip to a laundromat if you want to dry stuff by machine. The best you’ll get in most apartments is a long pipe or bar on your miniscule balcony to hang stuff on. Or maybe a pipe hanger stand/rack inside for when it rains/winter.
https://preview.redd.it/xlykf5izxyib1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f772cef129707047ea06b25fba2bf2750fef3c7
The machines that wash *and* dry are basically useless for drying (tried it with the bottom unit before the dryer and it took hours) and a dedicated dryer would be your best bet unless you want to hang your clothes outside.
Use nets on delicates and other items as they can destroy your clothes.
A gentle reminder that hot water washing is a Cultural obsession by many that has been proven many times that it doesnt actually make your clothes cleaner for most healthy families.
“In ‘healthy’ households, the risk of infection from washed clothes is estimated to be extremely low”
Warm to hot water is normally only recommended for highly resistant enteric viruses and bacteria. These are scenarios where there are enteric intestinal bacteria present, someone has a weakened immune system or someone in the house is a health care worker and frequents the hospital.
In most cases outside of those cold water and outside hanging is not only more than fine…it is significantly more environmentally conscious and saves you more money
Sources:
[pubmed 1987](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3647942/)
[AMI 2021](https://ami-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jam.15273)
Is it a washer-dryer or just a washer? Anyway my machine (Panasonic) seems very different to yours so not sure I can help much.
Generally I do a wash-dry cycle for my pajamas, undies, sheets, towels etc. without using nets called “おまかせ”, so I just let the machine do whatever it wants (but sometimes I do a hot wash for them). Then for my outside clothes I use nets and I do a wash-only cycle called “おうちクリーニング” (called “おしゃれ” on my old machine) and then hang them to dry.
Can’t help much more than other people have, but may I recommend some detergents and fabric softeners? These are the best I’ve found and I think it makes a huge difference!
Detergent:
[Attack ZERO](https://amzn.asia/d/3Ggtjws) – I use this for the wash-dry cycle for towels, pajamas, underwear, bedsheets etc., it really gets stuff clean and also works well with both hot and cool washes.
[EMAL](https://amzn.asia/d/dG6EF2w) – this is the detergent I use for my net/おしゃれ wash. It claims to fix clothes, but I don’t know if that’s true haha. It’s just more gentle and not so harsh on clothes as Attack, but works well and smells nice 🙂 this is quite important as clothes can become pretty battered otherwise.
Fabric softener:
[EAU DE LUX](https://amzn.asia/d/j23QoKU) – this one linked is my favourite scent from them but they have loads of try! Importantly you only need a TINY bit – way less than the recommended amount haha – which means it lasts ages and works very well 🙂
Washing machine stuff takes a while to learn, took me years haha. Anyway I hope this was helpful!
In 10+ years I’ve always just thrown everything together, every setting normal, and never had an issue with anything
You’ll also want to check the washing machine’s manual, which will usually have clear explanations with pictures that even google translate can’t mess up beyond incomprehension.
That being said, if the machine doesn’t have a hand wash program, the ドライ program is usually the alternative to use for fragile stuff.
I’d also recommend using a laundry net to protect clothes during the washing even with the other programs.
Assuming you have a run of the mill cold water only washing machine, get a decent liquid soap. Powder soap has the chance of not all disolving and leaving white marks.
I also use oxy clean powder and soak if I want to have things extra clean. And gel beads for things to smell nice but thats just an extra personal preference.
Also clean it regularly with the cleaners you run on an empty wash to stop it getting mouldy esp when its humid.