June 24, 2025 My Cookware Australia

Tiger JPW-G Review: Made-in-Japan IH Rice at the Most Accessible Price

Last updated: 27 October 2026

The Tiger JPW-G is our best-selling Tiger rice cooker and the most affordable made-in-Japan induction (IH) model we stock. Induction heats the whole inner pot rather than a plate under it, and Tiger pairs it with a three-layer ceramic-coated pot that radiates far-infrared heat the way a clay pot does. Sixteen menus run from white and brown rice to soup and cake.

This review works through what the cooker does, how long each menu takes, what IH and the ceramic pot change, which menus you will actually use, and who should buy the 5.5-cup JPW-G10A or the 10-cup JPW-G18A. Every figure below comes from the Tiger operating instructions supplied with the Australian model.

This review is one of a series on every rice cooker we stock, written by My Cookware Australia from the manufacturer's manual and from demonstrating and servicing the cooker in our Chatswood store.

In this review:

Who the JPW-G is for
Functions and cooking times
What IH and the ceramic pot change
The menus you will actually use
Keep Warm, Reheat and the timers
Drawbacks — who should not buy it
5.5 cups or 10 cups?
Cleaning and parts
Frequently asked questions
Verdict

1. Who the JPW-G is for

The JPW-G is an IH cooker: microcomputer control with induction heating of the whole inner pot. It sits between the JAX-S below it, which heats from the base and adds a steaming basket, and the JPK-G above it, which adds pressure, bread and cake baking. It shares most of its rice menus with both.

It is the cooker for a household that cooks a full or near-full pot often — that is where induction's even heating shows — and wants made-in-Japan IH at the lowest price we can offer it. If you mostly cook a cup or two of white rice, the JAX-S cooks it well for less and steams a dish over the rice at the same time. If rice texture is the whole point, or you want to bake bread, the JPK-G's pressure is the next step.

2. Functions and cooking times

Sixteen menus. Times are Tiger's guideline figures at 230–240 V, cooked without soaking, measured to the end of steaming; a full pot runs toward the top of each range. Tiger publishes times for the white and brown menus; the other rice and grain menus vary with quantity and are not given as a range.

Menu	What it is for	G10A cups / minutes	G18A cups / minutes
Plain	Standard white rice	0.5–5.5 / 47–57	1–10 / 48–65
Premium	Double soak, longer heat — sweeter, stickier	0.5–5.5 / 60–70	1–10 / 57–75
Eco	Less power, slightly firmer	0.5–5.5 / 46–58	1–10 / 48–64
Sushi	Firmer rice for seasoning	0.5–5.5 / 48–58	1–10 / 47–65
Quick	Faster white rice, slightly harder	0.5–5.5 / 23–41	1–10 / 23–44
Exp. Limited Cups	Express, small batches only	0.5–2 / 20–29	1–3 / 23–30
Brown	Brown rice	— / 68–81	— / 73–88
Brown GABA	Germinates brown rice first, then cooks	— / 4 h 16–4 h 26	— / 4 h 19–4 h 31
Long-grain, Multigrain, Mixed, Sweet, Porridge	Other rice and grain menus	times vary with quantity	times vary with quantity
Cook·Soup	Soups, simmered dishes	set 5–180 min	set 5–180 min
Cake	Sponge and similar	set 5–80 min	set 5–80 min

Three things to read from the table. First, the express menu is the fast one — 20 to 29 minutes — but only for up to 2 cups on the G10A or 3 on the G18A; cook more and you are on Quick (23 to 41) or Plain (47 to 57). Second, Premium adds about 15 minutes over Plain for a sweeter, stickier grain, and is the menu to use for Japanese short-grain rice when you have the time. Third, Brown GABA is a four-and-a-half-hour cycle. For how the JPW-G compares with every other model we stock, see the full cooking time table.

3. What IH and the ceramic pot change

A conventional or micom cooker heats from a plate under the pot, so heat enters at the base and works upward. Induction turns the whole inner pot into the heating element, so the sides heat as well as the bottom. With a cup or two of rice the difference is small. With a full pot it is the difference between rice that is a little drier at the top than the bottom and rice that is the same all the way through.

Tiger's inner pot is the other half of the story. Instead of a plain nonstick metal pot, the JPW-G uses a three-layer pot with a ceramic coating that radiates far-infrared heat — the principle of a clay pot, where the walls themselves radiate steady heat into the grain rather than conducting it from one hot spot. In our experience it produces rice with a little more sweetness and a cleaner, less metallic character than a plain nonstick pot, and it is the reason customers who compare the JPW-G against a same-price IH from another brand usually pick the Tiger.

The trade-off is care: the ceramic coating is hand wash only, and it wears with use like any coating. The pot is a replaceable part.

The measuring cup is 180 ml — about 150 g of rice — not a metric cup, and one level cup cooks about two restaurant-sized bowls. Water lines inside the pot are marked for each menu; fill to the line for the menu you chose, on a flat surface, and adjust to taste.

4. The menus you will actually use

Most households use three: Plain for everyday rice, the express or Quick menu when dinner is late, and Brown or Porridge depending on the household. Premium is worth trying once to see whether you notice the difference. Eco is for the household that cooks every day and would rather save a little power than a few minutes. Sushi gives a firmer grain that takes seasoning without going mushy. Long-grain is for jasmine and basmati, which Japanese cookers otherwise tend to overcook on the Plain menu.

Cook·Soup runs 5 to 180 minutes for soups and simmered dishes, and Cake 5 to 80 minutes for a sponge in the inner pot. Both are real functions with their own recipes in the manual; neither replaces a stove or an oven. There is no steaming basket.

5. Keep Warm, Reheat and the timers

The cooker switches to Keep Warm automatically when rice finishes and shows the elapsed hours up to 24. The manual's advice is to keep white rice only and not beyond 24 hours; the grain and mixed menus are best served soon. A Reheat function brings kept-warm rice back to serving temperature. Our own habit: keep warm as briefly as you can, fluff the rice when it finishes, and refrigerate what you will not eat.

Two preset timers, Timer 1 and Timer 2, each store a finish time, so breakfast rice and dinner rice can be set once and reused. A separate Soak Timer adds 10 to 60 minutes of soaking before a cycle, in 10-minute steps — the route to softer rice without switching to Premium. A lithium battery keeps the clock and presets when the cooker is unplugged; it wears out with use and is replaced by a service agent.

6. Drawbacks — who should not buy it

No steaming basket. The JAX-S below it steams a dish over rice; the JPW-G cooks rice, grains, soup and cake.
IH shows at full capacity, not at one cup. If you cook small batches, you are paying for evenness you will rarely see.
The express menu has a cup limit. 20 to 29 minutes is for 2 cups or fewer on the G10A. A full pot on Plain is 47 to 57 minutes.
The ceramic pot is hand wash only, and its coating wears like any other; budget for a replacement pot over the cooker's life.
No pressure. If you want the softer, springier grain that pressure gives, that is the JPK-G.

7. 5.5 cups or 10 cups?

Decide by the smallest amount you cook, not the largest. The G10A cooks from half a cup; the G18A cooks from 1 cup, and its express menu runs to 3 cups rather than 2. For one or two people, or a family that cooks 2 to 3 cups a night, the G10A is the right size. Choose the G18A if you regularly cook 5 cups or more.

	JPW-G10A	JPW-G18A
White rice	0.5–5.5 cups	1–10 cups
Express menu	Up to 2 cups	Up to 3 cups
Power	1088 W	1206 W
Size (W × D × H)	26 × 35.4 × 20.1 cm	28.8 × 38.6 × 23.8 cm
Weight	4.1 kg	5.1 kg
Product	JPW-G10A	JPW-G18A

Allow for the lid opening above the cooker and for steam at the vent; neither size fits under a standard overhead cupboard with the lid up.

8. Cleaning and parts

After every use: wash the inner pot and inner lid by hand with a soft sponge, and wipe the inside of the outer lid. The inner lid detaches for washing. Nothing goes in the dishwasher. A Clean menu runs a steam cycle through the pot to clear odours after soup or a long Keep Warm, and after the first few uses, when a new cooker can smell of resin. The gaskets are consumables and are replaced through Tiger's service agent when they harden.

Tiger supplies the English manual in the box; there is no PDF to download, so keep the printed copy.

9. Frequently asked questions

How fast does the JPW-G cook rice?

20 to 29 minutes on the express menu for up to 2 cups (G10A) or 3 cups (G18A); 23 to 41 on Quick; 47 to 57 on Plain for a full pot. See Functions and cooking times.

What is the difference between the JPW-G and the JPK-G?

Both are IH with ceramic pots. The JPK-G adds pressure, which gives softer rice and faster brown rice, plus bread fermentation, bread baking and a self-clean cycle, and costs more. The JPW-G has the same induction heating without pressure.

Does it have a steaming basket?

No. The Tiger JAX-S is the model that steams over rice.

Is the inner pot dishwasher safe?

No. The ceramic-coated pot and the inner lid are hand wash only.

Is the JPW-G made in Japan?

Yes, both sizes.

10. Verdict

Buy the JPW-G for even, slightly sweeter rice from a full pot, at the lowest price we can offer for a made-in-Japan IH cooker. The ceramic far-infrared pot is the feature that sets it apart from other IH cookers at the price, and sixteen menus cover everything a household is likely to cook in it, soup and cake included.

Skip it if you cook small batches or want to steam a side over the rice, where the JAX-S does both for less; or if rice texture is the whole point, where the JPK-G's pressure is the next step. Between the two sizes, the G10A suits most households; the G18A is for families cooking 5 cups or more.

Tiger JPW-G10A — 5.5 cups · Tiger JPW-G18A — 10 cups