Dehumidifiers for indoor laundry in the rainy season

The rainy season runs from June to around mid-July. Laundry hung indoors still isn't dry after a day or two, and it starts to smell. Many dehumidifiers sold in Japan are labeled "clothes-drying dehumidifier" (衣類乾燥除湿機), and you can point the vent straight at your clothes.

The two main types are compressor and zeolite, also called desiccant (デシカント式). Compressor models remove more moisture in hot weather and cost less to run, but they're heavy, a bit louder, and lose effectiveness as soon as the temperature drops. Zeolite models dehumidify by heating zeolite, so they work just as well in winter and are light and quiet, but they use more electricity and raise the room temperature by a few degrees, which makes them a bit stuffy to run in summer. If it's mainly for the rainy season and summer, a compressor model is enough; consider zeolite only if you also dry laundry indoors in winter. Panasonic and a few others also make hybrids that combine the two, for quite a bit more money.

On the spec sheet of a compressor model, the dehumidifying capacity is listed as two numbers, one for 50Hz and one for 60Hz. Look at the 50Hz figure in eastern Japan and the 60Hz figure in western Japan.

When you hang laundry, pick a smaller room, close the door and leave gaps between the clothes; it'll dry a lot faster.