Norm

Looking for some confirmation of the following; I understand Japan is mostly 100V and uses the same two-prong plugs as in the U.S. I have a battery charger that charges the built-in rechargeables on my (Japanese-made) Canon mini-DV videocam that says it operates from 100V-240V, 50-60Hz. Does this mean I should be fine just plugging it in to recharge without any additional converters/adapters/etc? Thanks.

bart

Hi Norm,<BR><BR>Japan is 100V because of the odd bit of 120V 60Hz equipment that was in use years ago. 120V 60 Hz equipment, when used on 120V 50 Hz, will draw 1.2 times (60Hz divided by 50 Hz) more current and hence 1.2 times more power. The simple way to correct for this is to drop the voltage to 50/60 of 120V, or 100V.<BR><BR>The problem with older equipment is that the charger output may also drop down by as much as 50/60 of the original and may not have enough voltage (after conversion to the dc or battery level) to charge the batteries fully.<BR><BR>Your Canon, however, and in fact almost all newer electronic equipment for worldwide consumption have "universal" chargers that operate over a phenomenally wide range without having to switch voltage taps manually or add adapters/converters. If the equipment states an operating range like 100V-240V, it will definitely handle it (and even slightly outside of this range) without any problems.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR>Bart

Norm

Thanks, Bart, for the detailed reply! Good to know that I'll be okay.<BR>

greg

The simple answer is YES.<BR>But so you want freak out because it is not exactly what you thought, the Fodor destination guide explanation is quite good: look down to Electricity.<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=tokyo@156&cur_section=tr a&pg=3<BR><BR>For historical reason, eastern Japan uses 50HZ 100V (includes Tokyo), and western Japan uses 60HZ 100V (includes Kyoto). THe 50-60HZ portion of the charger specification takes care of this part. The 100V-240V part takes care of 100V part, thus the simple answer to your qeustion is yes.<BR><BR>It seemed to me Japan does not use polarized plugs (where one flat prong is wider than the other as used in the USA), I believe my charger happened to have non polarized prongs and I did not have a problem. I do not know if the wider polarized prong will fit in non polarized receptacles, at least in USA, it does not work. You might need polarized two prong plug to non polarized two prong (two identical blades) adaptor?

Stephen

If you have a polarized plugs, bring adapter. My experience the polarized plug cannot be plugged in since one prong is wider. You can buy the travel converter kits it should have the converter for the polarized to two identical flat non polarized as well as other countries plugs.

Stom Ohno

I just got back from two and half weeks in Japan. Used a digital camera, miniDV camera, and a notebook computer. Everyone is right, you can just use the adapter that comes with your equipment. I was glad I took one of those 3 plugs out/1 plug in things for the wall outlet (make sure the 1 plug "in" is not polarized). Many rooms in Ryokans have only very few outlets and it was great to be able charge them all at once.<BR><BR>Have fun!