Cold wash
Some while ago I went to Japan on a business trip and had quite a lot of free time in the afternoons. The electronics/appliances store district was close to my hotel, so I had plenty of time to wander through all of these stores. Every single washer sold was cold fill only, no inboard water heater. When I asked a salesman about this feature (in English, of course) he told me water in Japan was extremely soft and they didn't need hot (or even warm) washes. Another salesman from another store told me Japanese people had washed their clothes in water streams for centuries, obviously with cold water, and even in modern times they wouldn't accept anything else...
Emilio