Futon dryers with no mat in Japan: 5 picks from ¥11,700

Five futon dryers in Japan, none needing a mat, from ¥11,700 to ¥15,980
Single-set drying runs from about 27 minutes (Hitachi) to 60 (Iris Ohyama)
Iris Ohyama dries two sets at once; cado is a 400 g stick

The five

Best for	Where to get it	Score	Street price, incl. tax
No mat, no hose: 35 minutes, and shoes or clothes by tilting the outlet — if you can’t decide	Zojirushi Smart Dry futon dryer RF-FB20 See price	87/100	¥14,650 (street price)
A published cost per run — about ¥17 on winter — in a small, hose-free body	Zojirushi Smart Dry futon dryer RF-UA10 See price	77/100	¥12,669 (street price)
Two nozzles for two single sets at once, at just over ¥10,000	Iris Ohyama Karalie twin-nozzle futon dryer FK-W2 See price	77/100	¥11,700 (street price)
A single set in about 27 minutes, and mites done in about 65	Hitachi At-Dry futon dryer HFK-VS6000 See price	72/100	¥15,980 (street price)
A 400 g stick you just push in, and it works on overseas voltages	cado FOEHN LITE futon dryer See price	66/100	¥13,800 (street price)

These are sold on Rakuten Ichiba, which generally ships within Japan only, and they run on Japanese mains power (100V, 50/60Hz). They suit a home in Japan rather than a suitcase.

No mat, no hose: 35 minutes, and shoes or clothes by tilting the outlet

Zojirushi Smart Dry futon dryer RF-FB20

A standing machine: the outlet slips on top between the bottom futon and the quilt
Airflow about 1.6 m³/min, about 30% more than Zojirushi’s earlier model
Thorough (winter) course 60 minutes; the mite course adjusts the warm air as it runs

See today’s price on Rakuten→

Why it made the five

No mat and no hose — the outlet goes straight between the futons
35 minutes on the standard (winter) course, 80 on the mite course (single)
Warm air on clothes and shoes by tilting the outlet; fan only for leather shoes and boots
The summer course cools the futon with plain air before it stops
Right for: Giving up on hoses and mats, and using it on shoes and clothes every day.
Not for: Keeping the electricity per run as low as possible — it draws up to 910 W.
Worth knowing: It draws 905 W (50 Hz) or 910 W (60 Hz), the highest of those compared. Running a microwave or hair dryer on the same outlet can trip the breaker. Zojirushi notes that mites may escape, so the treatment may not always work.

Score breakdown — 87/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★★★	35 minutes for a single on the standard (winter) course earns four stars; the 80-minute mite course adds one
Value for money	★★★☆☆	¥14,650 earns four; no running cost is published, and 910 W × 35 minutes is about 0.53 kWh, about ¥16.5 at most at ¥31 — over ¥15, so one comes off
Easy to live with	★★★★★	No mat or hose, just the outlet between the futons, earns a point; clothes and shoes dry from the machine alone by tilting the outlet, another
Trust	★★★★★	101 reviews averaging 4.59 across Rakuten listings found by model number
Only here	★★★★☆	About 1.6 m³/min of airflow, about 30% more than Zojirushi’s earlier RF-EA (about 1.2 m³/min), and at 35 minutes the fastest of the hose-free standing machines

A published cost per run — about ¥17 on winter — in a small, hose-free body

Zojirushi Smart Dry futon dryer RF-UA10

Winter course 50 minutes; summer course 65
The mite course adjusts the warm air as it runs
Clothes and shoes have their own courses, with no attachment to swap

See today’s price on Rakuten→

Why it made the five

About ¥17 for the 50-minute winter course, on Zojirushi’s own figure
About 20 × 15 × 33 cm and about 3.4 kg — a size smaller than the RF-FB20
A 120-minute mite course; the summer course ends by cooling with plain air
Warm-air and fan-only courses of 120 minutes for clothes and shoes
Right for: Living alone with little floor space, and wanting a published running cost before you start.
Not for: Getting drying or mite treatment done quickly — 50 minutes on winter, 120 for mites.
Worth knowing: It draws 670 W (50 Hz) or 668 W (60 Hz), measured at a room temperature of 20°C. Zojirushi notes that mites may escape, so the treatment may not always work. The warming course is 15 or 35 minutes in the specification table.

Score breakdown — 77/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★☆☆	50 minutes for a single on the winter course earns three stars; the 120-minute mite course changes nothing
Value for money	★★★☆☆	¥12,669 earns four, but Zojirushi’s own figure of about ¥17 for the 50-minute winter course (at ¥31/kWh) is over ¥15, so one comes off
Easy to live with	★★★★★	No mat or hose — set it down and put the outlet in — earns a point; clothes and shoes use its own warm-air and fan-only courses, another
Trust	★★★★★	166 reviews averaging 4.50 across Rakuten listings found by model number
Only here	★★★★☆	Of the nine compared, only this and Panasonic’s foot-warming course (about ¥2) publish a cost per run in yen, and this is the only one publishing it for a drying course

Two nozzles for two single sets at once, at just over ¥10,000

Iris Ohyama Karalie twin-nozzle futon dryer FK-W2

Twin-nozzle machine, 760 W
Drying two sets takes the same time and electricity as one
Lay two single sets side by side, or warm a double right down to the feet

See today’s price on Rakuten→

Why it made the five

Two nozzles: two single sets, or a double down to the feet, at the same time
Winter 60 minutes, summer 80 (last 20 on plain air), warming 20, mites 100
Two shoe attachments included, for two pairs at once
Two hours of intermittent keep-warm after the winter or warming mode
Right for: Couples and families drying two sets together, or anyone with a double futon.
Not for: Drying a single set quickly — the winter mode is 60 minutes.
Worth knowing: The manual says to put both nozzles inside the futon even when drying only one. Clothes drying is not mentioned. Many Rakuten listings bundle it with a futon vacuum, so check that the listing is for the dryer alone.

Score breakdown — 77/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★☆☆	60 minutes on the winter mode earns three stars; the 100-minute high-heat mite mode changes nothing (and it can run two single sets at once)
Value for money	★★★★☆	¥11,700 earns five; no running cost is published, and 760 W × 60 minutes is 0.76 kWh, about ¥23.6 at most — over ¥15, so one comes off. Two sets at once is about ¥11.8 each
Easy to live with	★★★☆☆	A hose you extend and nozzles you insert, so no point; two shoe attachments are included but clothes drying is not mentioned, so no point either. The machine weighs about 2.4 kg
Trust	★★★★★	128 reviews averaging 4.37 across Rakuten listings found by model number
Only here	★★★★★	The only one of the nine that dries or warms two single sets (or a double down to the feet) at once, and dries two pairs of shoes at once — two points

A single set in about 27 minutes, and mites done in about 65

Hitachi At-Dry futon dryer HFK-VS6000

The top model of Hitachi’s At-Dry range
A V-shaped attachment on a telescopic hose of about 130 cm; a cotton futon takes about 37 minutes
Hitachi publishes energy use per course: about ¥9.1 for winter drying, about ¥7.1 power-saving
A shoe attachment is included; clothes up to about 1 kg need the separately sold cover

See today’s price on Rakuten→

Why it made the five

A single set (not cotton) dried in about 27 minutes and about 292 Wh on the winter course
A mite course of about 65 minutes at about 60°C
A power-saving course that takes longer but uses about 20% less energy (about 60 minutes and 228 Wh for a single)
Shoes on warm air (about 60°C) or low heat (40°C or below)
Right for: Drying the futons in the short time between getting home and going to bed, and checking the electricity in Wh.
Not for: Little storage space, or wanting something light — the machine weighs 4.3 kg.
Worth knowing: Times and energy use are Hitachi’s own measurements at a room temperature of 20°C and about 65% humidity. The power-saving course cannot be used for mites or for drying both sides of a mattress. Drying clothes needs the separately sold cover (HFK-CD200).

Score breakdown — 72/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★★★	About 27 minutes for a single (not cotton) on the winter course earns five stars; the 65-minute mite course at about 60°C would add one, but five is the ceiling. Cotton takes about 37 minutes, a double about 80
Value for money	★★★☆☆	¥15,980 earns three; Hitachi’s figure of about 292 Wh × ¥31 is about ¥9.1, under ¥15, so nothing comes off. The power-saving course is about 60 minutes and 228 Wh, about ¥7.1
Easy to live with	★★☆☆☆	A telescopic hose of about 130 cm to extend, so no point; a shoe attachment is included but clothes need a separate cover, so no point; 4.3 kg with the accessories stowed takes one away
Trust	★★★☆☆	26 reviews averaging 4.54 across Rakuten listings found by model number — ten or more earns three
Only here	★★★★★	The shortest drying time (about 27 minutes) and the shortest mite course (about 65) of the nine, and the only one publishing energy use in Wh for each course — two points

A 400 g stick you just push in, and it works on overseas voltages

cado FOEHN LITE futon dryer

A stick you push in from the head end of the bottom futon
Light and small enough to go in a drawer
Runs on 100–240V AC, so it works in a hotel on a trip

See today’s price on Rakuten→

Why it made the five

A stick of about 400 g, about 45 mm across and 260 mm long
Three courses: warming 10 minutes, drying and mites 80, plain air 120
100–240V AC, so it travels
Shoes in a separately sold shoe-drying stand
Right for: Wanting it to take up no storage space, or to take it travelling.
Not for: A quick dry only — drying is the 80-minute course or nothing.
Worth knowing: cado asks you to confirm the futon is heat-resistant to 70°C or more. Drying shoes needs the separately sold stand. The official page gives no model number; Rakuten listings call it FEN-L01.

Score breakdown — 66/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★☆☆	Drying and mites share one 80-minute course, which puts drying time in the two-star band; finishing the mite treatment in 80 minutes adds one
Value for money	★★★☆☆	¥13,800 earns four; no running cost is published, and 450 W × 80 minutes is 0.6 kWh, about ¥18.6 at most — over ¥15, so one comes off. The 10-minute warming course is about ¥2.3
Easy to live with	★★★☆☆	No hose — you push the machine in between the futons — earns a point; shoes need the separately sold stand, which takes one away
Trust	★★★★★	425 reviews averaging 4.61 across Rakuten listings found by product name
Only here	★★★☆☆	At about 400 g and about 45 × 260 mm, the lightest and smallest of the nine, but the runner-up FOEHN 003 (about 420 g) is close, and size does not bear on drying time or cost, so no point

Know before you buy

Mat-free is now the norm. You slide a hose, a nozzle or the machine itself between the bottom futon and the quilt, with nothing to spread out or fold away.
The same mat-free label hides big differences: drying one single set takes anywhere from 27 to 80 minutes.
Mite courses run from 65 minutes to about six hours for a set of futons. Every maker tells you to vacuum afterwards to remove the dead mites and droppings.
Running costs here are the maker’s own figure where one is published; otherwise an upper estimate from maximum power × time × ¥31/kWh, which overstates the real cost because the heater cycles.
They blow hot air, so every maker limits them to futons and bedding heat-resistant to 70°C or more. Check the manual before using one on an electric blanket or a urethane or memory-foam mattress.
The most powerful here draws 910 W — enough to trip a breaker if a microwave or hair dryer runs on the same outlet.

How we chose: theme, conditions, scoring

How we chose

Candidates: 27
Met every condition below: 12
Kept: five, each the best at something different

Conditions (all of them, not most of them)

No mat — a hose, a nozzle or the machine itself goes between the futons
A mite course (or mode) whose running time the maker publishes
Dries shoes, whether with an included attachment, the machine’s own nozzle or a separately sold stand
Buyable new on Rakuten Ichiba — an in-stock listing confirmed by model-number search on 2026-10-26

Scoring

Five criteria, one to five stars each, weighted to one hundred points. Every star says where the number came from.

Quality25 pts
- Set by the maker’s published time to dry one single set on the winter (standard) course: 30 minutes or less five stars, 31–40 four, 41–60 three, 61 or more two. Add one if the mite course finishes in 90 minutes or less; subtract one if it takes more than three hours for a set (ceiling five, floor one).
Value for money25 pts
- The cheapest price on Rakuten Ichiba: under ¥12,000 five stars, ¥12,000 to under ¥15,000 four, ¥15,000 to under ¥20,000 three, ¥20,000 or more two. Drop one if one winter (standard) dry of a single set costs more than ¥15 in electricity (floor one). The cost is the maker’s figure or, failing that, an upper estimate of maximum power × time × ¥31/kWh.
Easy to live with20 pts
- Starts at three stars. Add one if you simply set the machine down or push it in, with no hose to extend. Add one if both shoes and clothes can be dried with the included parts or the machine alone. Subtract one if shoes need a separately sold accessory, and one if the machine weighs more than 4 kg.
Trust15 pts
- The total of reviews across Rakuten Ichiba listings found by searching the model number: 100 or more averaging 4.3 or above is five stars, 30 or more four, 10 or more three, 1–9 two, none yet one.
Only here15 pts
- Starts at three stars. Add one or two where a figure or feature belongs to this model alone among the nine compared, and where it bears directly on drying time, mite treatment, use on shoes or clothes, or running cost.

What we dropped

Candidate	Verdict	Why
Hitachi At-Dry futon dryer HFK-CV1B	Runner-up (73/100)	73 points, but it fell short of the five on score or overlap with them: 60 minutes for a single, a 120-minute mite course, and clothes need a separate cover. Its strength is the lowest power of the nine, 420 W, about ¥13.0 a dry at most.
Panasonic futon warmer-dryer FD-F06S2	Runner-up (70/100)	70 points, but it fell short of the five on score or overlap with them. Its mite treatment is 90 minutes four times over — about six hours for one set of futons.
Iris Ohyama Karalie futon dryer FK-C4	Runner-up (63/100)	63 points. The same 60-minute winter and 100-minute mite modes as the FK-W2 in the five, and its two-hour keep-warm is on the FK-W2 too.
Panasonic futon warmer-dryer FD-F06X2	Runner-up (62/100)	62 points. The same drying, warming and mite times and power as the FD-F06S2, with nanoe added, for about ¥3,600 more.
Hitachi HFK-VS5000	Runner-up	680 W at most, a mite course of about 65 minutes and a quiet course of about 30 dB, from ¥14,980 on Rakuten. Its product page gives no winter drying time or energy figure, so we chose the HFK-VS6000, which can be compared on both.
Iris Ohyama FK-C5	Runner-up	The FK-C4’s successor, with a published guide of 560 Wh per hour on high heat. Winter 60 minutes and mites 100, the same as the FK-C4; from ¥13,092 on Rakuten with three reviews (2026-10-26).
cado FOEHN 003	Runner-up	A stick type at 420 W maximum with an 80-minute drying and mite course and an ozone fan course. From ¥21,630 on Rakuten, it overlaps with the FOEHN LITE (¥13,800) and its same 80-minute course.
Iris Ohyama FK-C3	Held back	A model-number search on Rakuten Ichiba found only used or recycled units in stock (2026-10-26).
Hitachi HFK-VS3000 / HFK-CV1A	Held back	Hitachi’s site marks them as remaining stock only (2026-10-26).
Mitsubishi Electric AD-PS70BB / Yamazen ZFD-Y500	Outside the theme	Both use a drying mat laid in the futon (condition 1).
Twinbird FD-4149W	Outside the theme	A mat-free push-in type from ¥8,980 on Rakuten, but the official information we checked did not confirm the running time of a mite course (condition 2).

Questions visitors ask

If I can’t decide, which one?

The Zojirushi Smart Dry RF-FB20. It scored 87 out of 100 across the five criteria, the highest of the five.

Which is the cheapest?

The Iris Ohyama Karalie twin-nozzle FK-W2, at a street price of about ¥11,700 including tax (as of 2026-10-25).

Where can I buy one?

All five are sold by Rakuten Ichiba stores, which ship within Japan, and the links above go straight to the listings. Many listings of the Iris Ohyama FK-W2 bundle it with a futon vacuum, so check you are buying the dryer alone.

How current are the prices?

They are guide prices checked on the makers’ sites and Rakuten Ichiba on 2026-10-25. They move with promotions and stock, so check the linked page before you buy.

Which dries fastest?

On published figures, the Hitachi HFK-VS6000: about 27 minutes for a single set (futons other than cotton) on the winter course, using about 292 Wh — 292 Wh × ¥31 is about ¥9.1 (Hitachi’s measurement at 20°C and about 65% humidity). Next is the Zojirushi RF-FB20, at 35 minutes on its standard (winter) course.

How long do the mite courses take?

About 65 minutes on the Hitachi HFK-VS6000; 80 on the Zojirushi RF-FB20 and cado FOEHN LITE; 100 on the Iris Ohyama FK-W2 and FK-C4; 120 on the Zojirushi RF-UA10 and Hitachi HFK-CV1B. The Panasonic FD-F06S2 and FD-F06X2 run 90 minutes four times, about six hours for one set (one quilt and one bottom futon). Every maker says to vacuum afterwards to remove the dead mites and droppings.

How much electricity does one run use?

Published figures exist for the Hitachi HFK-VS6000 — about 292 Wh (about ¥9.1) for winter drying and about 228 Wh (about ¥7.1) on the power-saving course — and the Zojirushi RF-UA10, about ¥17 on the winter course. For the rest we use an upper estimate of maximum power × time × ¥31/kWh: about ¥16.5 for the Zojirushi RF-FB20 (910 W × 35 minutes), about ¥23.6 for the Iris Ohyama FK-W2 (760 W × 60 minutes, the same for two sets at once) and about ¥18.6 for the cado FOEHN LITE (450 W × 80 minutes). Temperature control lowers the power, so the real figure is lower.

Can they dry shoes and clothes too?

The Zojirushi RF-FB20 and RF-UA10 dry clothes and shoes with no attachment, by changing the angle of the outlet; use the fan-only course for leather shoes and anything heat-sensitive. Hitachi and Iris Ohyama include a shoe attachment, and Hitachi dries clothes in a separately sold cover (HFK-CD200, up to about 1 kg). The cado needs a separately sold shoe-drying stand.

Can I use one on any futon?

They heat the futon with warm air, so every maker says to use them only on futons and bedding heat-resistant to 70°C or more. For electric blankets and urethane or memory-foam mattresses, check the manual first.

Changes

2026-10-25　First published. Scored from 27 candidates.