Worlds most expensive citys
 

heres a qoute from an article i read on yahoo. ill have the link as well

"The main constant in these rankings, since Mercer's first set was released in 1994, is Tokyo's place at or close to the top. Osaka has only fallen outside the top 10, once, when it slipped to the No. 11 spot last year. While the value of the yen is strong against the dollar, Japan--and Tokyo in particular--has always featured prominently due to the high cost of international goods, says Mercer senior researcher Nathalie Constantin-Metral. One can count on Japan being expensive in good times and bad alike for the yen."

World's Top Five Most Expensive Cities To Live

1. Tokyo, Japan

2. Osaka, Japan

3. Moscow, Russia

4. Geneva, Switzerland

5. Hong Kong

World's Most Expensive Cities To Live - Yahoo! Real Estate

i think when people were talking about the high prices of DVD's and such in japan, its probably normal for the japanese.

These are never accurate...


How would they factor exchange rates, wages, etc?

Does this study show the city with the lowest wages and the highest living expenses, or just the expenses in general?

Are you gonna tell us every story that is new on the yahoo web site? Just asking since one story a day i see there ends up here.

According to the latest statistics by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the average monthly total cash earnings per regular employee was
285,465 yen. ($3000)

More recently, The White House reports information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which states that in that same month, the average wage for American workers in the private sector was around $520 a week, or
189,545 yen ($2050) a month

wow....this is the first time i ever posted something like this and i get attacked for it. sorry, didnt know i was being rude to everyone else

I posted something a day or two ago that had to do with Japan that happened to be on the Yahoo front page for a couple hours. Don't worry about it. Don't be overly sensitive.

I hear that this is misleading, and that the cost of living in Moscow is much worse than it appears. In fact, there was recently a CNN report on this. Despite Russia's embrace of capitalism, some items still can't be found without going to the black market, and this is difficult to track and include in the above statistics. From reports I have read, foreigners who live in Moscow discover this rather quickly.

not being sensitive, i just thought people might want to read it. guess not though

Any Japan related quote, link or news is worth posting

As MMM said..its fine, I've done it few time too haha.

As for Osaka being the 2nd most expensive..that sucks, just last night I was like "Osaka looks beautiful..I'd love to live there." Now I'm going to have to work harder for it? Aww man! *cries*

Can someone acknowledge the above?


Doesn't that matter in statistics like these?


Why would you move to Tokyo on a foreign salary?

I am surprised Yokohama is less expensive than Osaka...I have spent much time in both, and felt like Yokohama is more expensive.

And there is beauty in Osaka, QB, but there are much more beautiful cities in Japan, in my opinion. Yokohama, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara to name a few.

I was going to post this in "Do teachers get paid well in Japan", but since this thread is pertaining to the conversation in the latter, I will post it here.



So I have a confession:


I went to Japan, for one month, with 400 dollars spending money (and 250 for food).


That sounds crazy, because it is. I ate well on 20 dollars a day, and came home with a few precious keepsakes... but all in all, I couldn't really tell how expensive Japan really was (because I was rounding everything because of the exchange rate, i.e. 100 yen = 1 dollar... which isn't accurate)

These statistics aren't really based off of experience... just numbers that may or may not be factual.

Wow, Hong Kong is really that expensive?
I NEVER thought that that's how it'd go down. Oh well.

i think Paris is very expensive ~_~
i was shocked when i saw the price for a simple dress ><

Hello my dear friends.

What burkheart is saying is very true. These places might be more expensive, however, the salary is also much higher. Usually relative to the general expenses of the area.

Just like New York for example. It's very expensive there. But you get paid a lot more. So it evens itself out. If you live in NY and get paid a NC salary, you're screwed.



I know this because I was just in NYC, that's why I wasn't posting. And a friggin' newspaper was like 100 bucks (exaggeration) but people get paid more money. Here in NC a newspaper is like 60 cents but you also make pretty little money.

hot damn, my parents want to buy an apartment in hong kong sometime soon for their retirement. =)

Whenever i lived in califorina things cost so much. homes food everything. my father made about 800 dollars a week after taxes and garnishments. now that we live in oklahoma he makes about 450 dollars but we live just as well or better than when we lived in california. a 3 bedroom house with two bath rooms costs around 815,000 in california while in oklahoma a similar house can cost 163,000

It is.
But you're also paid higher.






Expenses are relative to wage.
Just about everywhere.

and its all relative.

it probably doesnt take into account things like adapting and learning to live and eat like a local. i mean imagine a similar survey was taken with a japanese or indian or chinese perspective.

how expensive would it be for them to eat and live like they did back home if they didnt adapt?

i will say this though, japan compared to the uk, you get quality stuff for what you pay for in japan, the uk not so much, hence the rip off britain stuff.

Im not too sure how I feel about this survey. Trust me I do agree with the fact that Japan is expensive compared to places, especially Tokyo. I just wish I could see more info about the survey. Like what these 200 items were. To me food is a big one and they don't say what food. If you wanted, you could eat cheap in Japan, even Tokyo. But you could also eat ridiculously expensive. What troubled me most is the fact that he says he used New York as the base city and the basing his results off of New York. If you try to live the American lifestyle in Japan, your going to spend a fortune. If you want to go out have a big steak with potatoes your going to be broke in a week. Now I didn't see all of the list because my comp was going to slow. But I can tell you, I almost went to Tokyo and las vegas back to back, and Vegas cost way more than Tokyo. besides the cost of living, which im not sure of, las Vegas costs a fortune. This has nothing to do with gambling either, Im just talking about food, drink, entertainment, and transportation. I spent twice as much in Vegas, and Im not even sure if it was on that list. But with or with out this list, Tokyo isnt cheap.

Apparently this ranking fluctuates based on currency value, which really signals that is isn`t all that accurate when it comes to real life value.
The rank changes when calculated based on "cost of living" when balanced with income.

The ranking based on percentage of income required to secure a standard level of life in that city comes up with this for the top 10;

1. Luanda, Angola
2. Tokyo, Japan
3. Nagoya, Japan
4. Yokohama, Japan
5. Kobe, Japan
6. Copenhagen, Denmark
7. Oslo, Norway
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Zurich, Switzerland
10. Basel, Switzerland

Angola apparently relies very heavily on the extremely high priced black market for a fair chunk of necessities so comes in on top for actual income vs. cost of living.

I`m kind of impressed that Nagoya takes #2 in Japan.

3.25$ for a ride on a bus a subway? Strange, because a week a go I read in an article that it costs 170 yen for a subway trip in Tokyo.
That article is quite biased. They used an unstable currency as a measuring stick, rather than using some objective means of measurement.


PS: The Full List of Worlds Most Expensive Cities to Live

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Osaka, Japan
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Hong Kong

6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. New York City, U.S.
9. Beijing, China
10. Singapore
11. Milan, Italy
12. Shanghai, China
13. Paris, France
14. Oslo, Norway
15. Caracas, Venezuela
16. London, UK
17. Tel Aviv, Israel
18. Rom, Ittaly
19. Helsinki, Finland
20. Bubai, UAE
21. Vienna, ustriia
22. Shenzhen, China
23. Los Ageles, UU.S.
24. Guangzhou, China
25. Dublin, Ireland
26. Abu Dhabi, UAE
27. Douala, Caeroon
28. Athens, Greece
29. Amsterdrdam, Netherlands
30. Bratislava, Slovakia