How should I wash clothes in Japan?
I'm going backpacking for a month in Japan and I plan to pack lightly. So I have couple of questions about how I can wash my clothes in Japan.
I expect laundromats to be quite common in big cities but what about little towns in rural area (for example, Hokkaido)?
I'm used to washing my clothes in hot water, but I've read that clothes are washed in cold water in Japan. How different is from what I'm used to? Do I have to use different detergents and/or in a different way?
I asked couple of questions here but since they are all pretty much related to the same topic I don't think it would be useful splitting this question.
Best Answer
Staffed laundries are more common in Japan than laundromats, but hotels, ryokan and minshuku will often have washing machines you can use as well.
Washing machines are fully automatic, the cold water is compensated for by more aggressive detergents. So it could be that detergent you bring along would not be effective.
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Quick Answer about "How should I wash clothes in Japan?"
How do Japanese people wash their clothes?
Using hot-water to wash clothes is less popular in Japan. One of the reasons is that Japan's tap water is soft, and cold water works well for detergent and fabric softeners. Also, clothes made in Japan are delicate and are not suitable for washing and drying at high temperatures.What is the proper way to wash your clothes?
That's still the preferred method in Japan, despite the increase in homes with tumble dryers or washers with a built-in drying function. In fact, 90 percent of people who have some sort of dryer say they don't use it. As Miyamae observed, \u201cMost Japanese prefer clothes that have been dried naturally outdoors.\u201dDo Japanese use dryers?
Pros: This is one of the fastest way to get your clothes dry, and the sun acts as a natural bacteria killer; wind as an eco dryer. Tokyo's damp and humid weather makes the perfect breeding place for mold and mites in your home.Laundry while Traveling Japan for 1 month (How to wash clothes while traveling Japan) ⛩️ Ep 11.1
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Answer 2
When I hiked through Japan in 1999 I mainly was guided by the Lonely Planet edition of that year. Every hotel/inn/B&B I stayed had modern (western style)- do it yourself - washing machines. I never experienced any problem. I don't know the situation when you get of the lonely planet track
Answer 3
One thing to be careful of is that many laundry machines in Japan are now the super-high efficient kind that need very low or non-sudsing detergent.
Detergent that's now sold in Japan is fine, but if you bring detergent from your home country, it may be high-sudsing -- which can cause the machine to overflow with suds or even damage it.
So regardless of whether you use a coin laundry or the laundry machine in a ryokan/guest-house/private-home, either use the laundry detergent provided or buy your own from a local store (even a ¥100 store has some) -- and only use your own home-country detergent if you are absolutely sure that it's low-sudsing, high-efficiency compatible detergent.
Info link: http://home.howstuffworks.com/appliances/energy-efficient/5-high-efficiency-detergents.htm
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