how expensive is japan ?

[ccc]

hi

how expensive is japan ?
is it more expensive than US ?
what's your opinion about ?

[MMM]

Depends
yes
What is my opinion about what?

[tommasi]

I think it depends on how you look at it.

In general, things are expensive in Japan, but you pay more in exchange for convenience.

Food is smaller but maybe American size is too big? It's something to think about since obesity is much more serious problem in the US. Food is smaller but obesity in Japan is much lower compare to the US.

Also, houses in Japan are much smaller than in the US so people do not buy things in bulks. So this is a great news for the retailers because they can charge more but since people do not have enough space to store items in bulks, people still choose to buy goods in small portion and end up paying more. Only 1/5 of land is habitable in a tiny island so gotta do everything we can to save more space.

To sum up, yea things are expensive but if you come from places like NYC, Chicago, and SF, you won't experience much difference. All the urban cities in the developed world are as expensive as Tokyo.

[anrakushi]

i know this is not US$ but i found cost of living in Japan to be comparable to Melbourne, Australia. some items were more expensive some were cheaper. it might have been that it was slightly more expensive in Japan but overall i felt as though cost wise i never left Melbourne.

[Tyrien]

Electronics would be cheaper in Japan.

Mostly due to the fact that that's where most of the world's major technology producing company's head offices reside. Sony, Samsung, and Toshiba as an example. Like a 40GB PS3 is about $390 USD. No idea what kind of tax they charge though.

[chachava]

Originally Posted by Tyrien

Electronics would be cheaper in Japan.

.

I reckon most electrical things are more expensive than back home in the uk (although the strong GBP will win in the exchange rates I guess...) with the exception of nintendo stuff

[Lucyenn]

more expensive then US ,that's for sure

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by Lucyenn

more expensive then US ,that's for sure

Not necessarily. San Francisco is much more expensive than most of Japan. My apartment in Japan was $480 a month. My apartment in SF was $1440 a month. And food, etc was more expensive in SF than Hashimoto Japan too. You can easily eat well for $5-7 in Japan, while that'll not get you much at most SF restaurants except fast food places.

[SSJup81]

$480/month for an apartment is pretty cheap, in my opinion, then again, that was the late 90s when you were there. I wonder how much an apartment is now in Hashimoto. Was your apartment's rent subsidized?

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by SSJup81

$480/month for an apartment is pretty cheap, in my opinion, then again, that was the late 90s when you were there. I wonder how much an apartment is now in Hashimoto. Was your apartment's rent subsidized?

No, it wasn't subsidized, that was the full rent. It was a small place, though. But still, most places outside the big cities are not very expensive. The small towns and cities in Japan have actually been losing population as the younger generations move off to the big cities. That makes the small towns a "renter's market", with relatively few people competing for apartments. I'd be shocked if the place I lived in then was more than $550 a month now, considering it's 10 years older.

If you want to live cheaply in Japan, get out of the big cities. The same place in Tokyo probably would have been $900-1000 a month.