The question is if I need to put detergent or not.
Here is the picture with the writing



Thx

ソフト剤のご使用方法

粉末ソフト剤及び液体ソフト剤
・「ソフト剤投入ランプ」が点滅中に入れてください。
・ランプ点滅中時期は「残り時間」の表示が９ー７分の時です。

What you posted here is the fabric softener directions. It says:
"How to put in powdered or liquid fabric softener:
●Put in when the 'Insert fabric softener light' is flashing.
●The light flashes when there is 9 to 7 minutes left on the remaining time."

(I'm sure you do have to put in detergent. Above, it says 'Do not insert coins which have detergent on them.')

now read that every time you do your laundry to improve your Japanese

thx. I am posting the whole picture, says nothing about the detergent (step 2 is insert coin). Its a laundry @ a hotel

Gaijinme Wrote:thx. I am posting the whole picture

That picture is clearly cut off at the right -- we have the text for steps 1 and 3 but not 2 or 4...

1 is "check that nobody else's laundry is still in the machine". 3 is "press the 'shower button' lamp. Don't put in any laundry or detergent. While the water is running the indicator lamp will flash." (ie this is a "rinse out the machine before use" step, if you're fastidious or the drum is full of muck for some reason. I'm going to guess you can skip it, although the text doesn't say so explicitly.)

The text for step 4 is probably the relevant bit.

That looks like the same one in my dorm; it's still not the whole thing since steps 2 and 4 are gone, but you put the detergent in when the water starts coming in, just like a normal washer. (That "shower button" thing I ignore; I never got it to work even when I tried it.)

step 1: make sure nobody else's laundry isn't in there.

step3: press the shower button, but don't put the clothes or detergent in it yet...

might have to see step 4

yudantaiteki Wrote:That looks like the same one in my dorm; it's still not the whole thing since steps 2 and 4 are gone, but you put the detergent in when the water starts coming in, just like a normal washer.

Standards for "normal washer" can be culturally specific, incidentally; in the UK "don't put in detergent until machine is running" is pretty weird. The usual here is that you put detergent either in a special drawer or straight into the drum inside a 'dispensing ball' that came with the detergent, for liquid detergent; either way you set everything up before hitting start and then the machine adds the detergent/fabric softener from the drawer at the right point. But then machines here are all front-loading, not the top-loader style that seems to be common in Japan.

Japan doesn't (or didn't five years ago) have the UK distinction between 'biological' and 'non-biological' detergent either.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think we were being trolled. You've got a funny concept of "the whole picture."

http://okwave.jp/qa/q6613272.html

Step 4 is put in clothes and detergent.

JimmySeal Wrote:If I didn't know any better, I'd think we were being trolled.

It is pretty hilarious that we've seen pretty much everything but the relevant part.

If it's a troll, it's a win.

Furthermore, since none of us seem to know, I think it shows us how much of us actually do the laundry Why would I know anything about women's work??