A New Old Fashioned Washing Machine

This is a new washing machine, but it is an old style. It is not automatic.

Clothes are washed in the tub on the left. After the machine washes the clothes, it beeps. Then someone has to come and take the very wet clothes out and put them in the tub on the right. Excess water is spun out of them. The tub on the right is the spin cycle. Automatic washing machines are available, but some people prefer this kind.

This is the lint bag. It catches lint and fuzz. These are on automatic machines, too. Click on the label below for more information about washing machines.

Toshiba-- brief history of Japanese-made washing machines

On the Streets Where I Live

These are clam shells. They are lined up in a flower bed. Maybe it's feng shui. This flower bed faces a busy street. Maybe the shells were put there to prevent slugs or bugs from entering and eating their plants. I'm not sure why.


This is a balcony of an apartment building. Those are washing machines. Some people don't have room in their apartment or house for a washing machine. They don't have garages so if they are lucky, they put them on balconies. This balcony was built with spaces to put washing machines. The machines are right in front of the front doors.


This second floor apartment has a big garden on its veranda. At first, I thought the third floor apartment had a washing machine on its balcony. It was a big water tank.

Bath Water For Laundry

Along with garbage, laundry was part of fifth grade homework recently, too (see May 9th). With our laundry machine all you have to do is load it, push a button, and wait. The machine weighs the clothes and determines how much soap to put in. It tells you how much soap is needed! Pretty easy for anyone. The capacity of the machine is quite small so several loads are necessary. Machines come in various sizes. See the really small one in the first picture? I took this picture in a recycle shop. This one must be for an apartment. Some people don't have room so they have to put their laundry machines outside on their balcony. Rough in rainy weather.

Our laundry machine has a hose with a filter so that we can use bath water to wash clothes. This is the only way we can have hot water to wash clothes. The washing machine is next to the bath. We can open the sliding door, put the hose into the bathtub, and push a button for that option. Sounds yucky? Well, you may have heard that in Japan, a shower is taken before you get into the bathtub. I'll explain bath time at another time.