Have you ever bought imported clothing and noticed that it has both Japanese and foreign laundry care labels?
Effective December 1, 2016 (Thursday), the "care labeling" for clothing (as defined in Article 2, Item 3 of the Textile Product Quality Labeling Regulations) has been changed.

The domestic clothing care labeling symbols have been changed to 41 types, conforming to international standards.

With the diversification of washing machines and detergents used for home laundry, and advancements in commercial cleaning technology, the environment surrounding textile products has changed significantly. Accordingly, the new "care symbols" for clothing will change from 22 domestic laundry symbols to 41 international standard symbols, resulting in the same symbols being used both domestically and internationally.

Not only will the design of the symbols be changed, but the number of types will increase, and additional punctuation marks and numbers will be used within the symbols, resulting in a significant change in both appearance and concept compared to before.

It consists of a combination of five "basic symbols," "additional symbols," and "numbers."

The new "care instructions" are based on five basic symbols: a laundry tub shape for "home washing," a triangle for "bleaching," a square for "drying," an iron shape for "ironing," and a circle for "cleaning."
Furthermore, additional symbols are added, such as "strength" which is added below the basic symbol, "temperature" which is added within the basic symbol, and "×" which is used in combination with the basic symbol to indicate prohibition.

In the "Strength" section, "No line" indicates normal strength, a single line below the symbol indicates "Weak (processing)", and two lines below the symbol indicate "Very weak (processing)".
Under "Temperature," dots (●) indicate the temperature for tumble drying and ironing. The more dots, the higher the temperature. The numbers (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 95) represent the maximum temperature of the laundry solution for home washing.
The "x" mark superimposed on the five basic symbols indicates that the process or operation represented by that symbol is not possible (prohibited).

For more detailed information on "handling instructions," please refer to the "New Laundry Symbols" page on the Consumer Affairs Agency website.