Why everyone needs a Japanese washing machine

Chores are never really enjoyable (I guess that's why they're called chores, eh?!) but I feel like Japan's washing machines are pretty awesome when it comes to encouragement to get things done. We got a new washing machine a couple of weeks ago, and it has a bunch of buttons that I had to ask my husband for help with - oh, the joys of not understanding much Japanese. Once I felt like I had the buttons under control, I got a little concerned when the washing machine started telling me different things in Japanese each time I turned it on. It has a cheerful sounding automated voice, but naturally if a machine starts talking to me, my brain thinks "oh - there's an error....I've gone and pressed a wrong button or something!"

A little concerned, I called my husband in and said "what is she saying?"

Lo-and-behold, the washing machine is actually programmed with a whole bunch of different phrases that are designed to cheer you on or commiserate with you when it comes to laundry. The English translations are things like:

"Thank you for keeping everything beautiful!"

"Doing laundry can be quite taxing, can't it?" 

I think this is both awesome and hilarious - but it sure makes doing the laundry a little more bearable!