Moving to Japan permanently and trying to decide whether to take my U.S.-bought Zojirushi rice cooker. It's the top-end model (NW-JEC10), so it's not cheap to replace, and it's only about a year old. Rated at 120V, 1240W, 60Hz. We'll have 100V 60Hz power.
My educated guess is that it would work poorly if plugged straight into 100V, but I can get a transformer like this one to step-up to 120V for <$100.
Has anyone tried something like this? We've already got movers for a lot of other stuff, so this won't make any difference to that cost. But I won't bother bringing it if it won't work properly.
I emailed Zojirushi, and they responded, "Due to the voltage difference, even if a voltage transformer is used, the electronic components might still acquire damage or malfunction.
We do not advise customers to use Zojirushi America products outside of the US and/or Canada. The warranty would also not be valid if used out of the US/Canada and a repair or replacement parts for this model number would not be available in Japan."
I can't tell if that's more of a CYA reply, or if it's really the case that the rice cooker might be damaged.
by mikenmar