HOW TO: Use Your Dehumidifier in Japan

type='html'>Forget what I said about it being relatively dry and pleasant around here... Today the humidity took a big jump with sporadic thunder and showers. So those dehumidifiers will come in handy after all!

Now that you know what type of dehumidifier to get, or at the very least, what to look for, let's talk about how to use it.

Unless, of course, you enjoy pushing buttons at random until the machine does what you want. No judgement here, I did the same thing for a while a few years ago! The joys of being functionally illiterate, right?

Here's a lovely picture with the English translations for your reference, and I've also added a chart below if you want the complete breakdown of each kanji or to copy/paste the words.

dehumidifier, Japan, how to use, Japanese, translation

It's important to note that some dehumidifiers may have a few other options or some variation of these options, but these should generally get you what you want.

Generally, there will be the regular dehumidify function (除湿), with different settings as to how strong you want it, usually automatic (おまかせ), normal (標準), and quiet/low (弱). You might also see strong (強), but in the picture above the strong setting is under the clothes drying settings (衣類乾燥). As is auto-off (自動停止), which will happen once the clothes are dry (assuming your tank doesn't fill up before then, which you'll know because 満水 will be blinking at you).

You also will usually be able to set an off timer (切タイマー) for a certain number of hours, and most machines have some sort of "swing" and/or "spot" function. This model allows the fan to swing wide (広角), which is all the way up and down, or just back and forth in the up direction (上方向), or back and forth in the down direction (下方向). This is helpful depending on what you might want to dry, such as clothes or shoes.

Words to know

Japanese	Hiragana	Romaji	English
切タイマー	きりたいまー	kiritaima-	off timer
時間	じかん	jikan	hours
スイング	-	suingu	swing (the fan swings up and down)
広角	こうかく	koukaku	swing wide (up and down)
上方向	うえほうこう	uehoukou	upward
下方向	したほうこう	shitahoukou	down
衣類乾燥	いるいかんそう	iruikansou	clothes dry
自動停止	じどうていし	jidouteishi	auto-off
連続	れんぞく	renzoku	continuous
強(い)	つよい	tsuyoi	strong, high (setting)
除湿	じょしつ	joshitsu	dehumidify
おまかせ	-	omakase	automatic
標準	ひょうじゅん	hyoujun	normal
静音	せいおん	seion	quiet
弱	よわい	yowai	low (lit. weak)
満水	まんすい	mansui	full tank
タンクなし	たんくなし	tanku nashi	no tank (in the machine)
点検	てんけん	tenken	machine needs to be checked/serviced
運転	うんてん	unten	operate
切	きる	kiru	off
入	いれる	ireru	on