Cost of Living in Japan?
 

Hello people

Im back with a new question..
Is anyone living in Japan and know the expenses of living in Japan, for example would 200,000 Yen a month be enough to live on? Thanks in advance

well, it all depends on where you were going to live in japan. its a very big place you know, lol. like, living in tokyo will empty your pocketbook. lol.

200,000yen is about 900GBP.
and rent in itself is really big there. and then theres food (if you aren't used to asian cuisine, western food is available...but...its slightly more expensive....and living off cup noodles is easier said then done. lol)

and then social life will cut more into the remaining money. lol.

the amount of money you proposed would be more than sufficient though, looking at it from perspective. Jus don't over spend. :D...

Im not sure about the 200,000 yen�.i have afriend there and he lives in japan for about 10 years already�living in japan is expensive in terms of food�.and when I say its expensive�.it is expensive�about the rent��since my friend has a family already�.150,000-200,000 yen is what he pays for the rent�don�t know how accurate is this amount since I don�t live there�.maybe the house they are living there is big that is why it is expensive�

Anyway�.this is not accurate but you can have some research on that�.schooling would be another expense and it is expensive too�..

But when you say your salary is 200,000 yen per month then I think you can live there�

Depends
 

Living a student/backpacker life in Tokyo in a 20sqm room and shared bathroom is easily possible on 200,000/month.

Bringing up a family, paying medical, saving money, schooling etc. in Tokyo on that is going to be mighty hard. You'll be living probably a 1.5-2 hours commute out of Tokyo (assuming you work there). Osaka and other cities are somewhat (but not massively) cheaper.

In Tokyo, 200,000 yen is not expensive. Some of the prices are really high. Most places in Tokyo are small too, unless you are rich. People who come from America or the UK are often shocked by how small the apartments in Japan are for the price. Even if you find one with a price that is similar to Western cities, usually the place is much smaller.

Food can be expensive too, like you said.

If you want to live cheap in Tokyo, you should have a plan and a budget in advance.

don't live in tokyo! problem solved. lol
if you live somewhere near tokyo, its cheaper to live. also, it doesn't tke much time to go to tokyo with pass and whatnot either. SO i'd take that into consideration. ^^

Just came back from a 36 month assign. in Tokyo. From what I've found, the cost to live downtowne is roughly the same as living in New York City. Housing, food and transportation cost comes very close to being the same. Live outside the city, the costs does go down...but you pay for it in lost tyme and a LOT of waiting. You still only get what you pay for.

thom

dont live in tokyo is the solution, haha!!!!...i cant agree more....you better go there for pleasure...

Me and a good friend are hoping to move to Hokkaido soon, we will have an allowance from my uncle 100,000 yen each.. of course i will find a job sooner or later. Thanks for the replys people keep em coming :)

Hokkaido 100,000
 

Dude, in that case try and arrange a family to stay with. Pay them board for a room. Unlikely in a city but possible in a rural area.

100,000 is not going to blow anyone's skirt up I'm afraid.

Yeah thats 100,000 on top of what i get with a job, thanks

good for you vesperd.!!!!!....post some pix okay?

Well sure, will be there within 2 years, after college and the basic Japanese course done :)

okay it seems it will take a while...lol

i think it'll be safe to say to save up as much money as you possible can when going there. lol. -_- then try not to blow it all on the first week. LOL

I'll try my best not to blow it up in oneday!

lol, it actualy is hard not to spend it all in a short time. so it ould be a joke to be taken seriously. esp in japan...you could very well go broke shopping in tokyo. @_@;

It's not THAT expensive
 

It's quite possible to find apartments in Tokyo and the surrounding areas for for around 60,000JPY a month. There is absolutely no reason you need to spend over 100,000JPY. My apartment is around 20m^2 and is around 80,000/month. It is a 3 year old, 3 story building (4 apartments) that is a 6 minute walk from two different stations on the Yamanote Line, as well as an equally short walk to a metro line inside the circle. It's only a 4 minute ride to the nearest large station. That places me pretty well in the center of Tokyo proper.

With rent, utilities, food, transportation, and a basic cellphone, I think you should be able to manage alone on 160,000JPY/month if you are smart. Luxury items and amusement would be, of course, extra.

Of course, finding a rich sugar-momma to take care of you every night is on you...

Sincerely,
-Eric

ps-Who can guess where I live?

Thanks for the tip eric, and umm.. im guessing outskirts of tokyo :)

OH! you live in austrailia!!....¬_¬ lol...

tokyo core

Go to Okinawa, and you'll find out that tax is less...

hmm, i'm not too sure how the tax system works.
so is it a 2 level system? a national tax, then one by perfecture or area?
its like that in canada....government tax...then provincal tax. ends up being 14% in total

i dunno about "level 2" ya talk of. and 14% cool =O
anyone who works has to pay Tax. If someone lives in Japan and another country, they pay less or dont pay for Japan at all as taxes are paid in the country where the person spends more time. shotokuzei/income teax, people whose yearly salary is lower than 1.300.000 yen are exempt, and those whose salary is paid by a foreign company can have tax reduction or be exempted if taxes are already paid in the other country.
juuminzei/residence/property tax, more of a local tax as opposed to national. Lower than the income one but it depends on the persons revenue.
And finally, shouhizei/consumption tax. Yah know when ya look at a japanese music cd or game cover or advert and they say "so so and tax for so and so yen"...well that is it. The tax paid when buying or selling products. Japan is such a place for many products, so this is charged. at the moment, the rate is 5% for this...
think of it like European VAT?

theres also enterprise tax, vehicle related and...tax for liquor, tobacco and gasoline.

I actually live in Taito-ku, only a couple stations from Ueno. And I'm inside the Yamanote loop. I'm not downtown, per se, but c'mon... The real point is: it's expensive but it's not THAT expensive. If you're smart, you can budget, and -- well -- if you're smart, you can even live in Tokyo on a below average income (average is 250,000JPY/month, I think).

As for taxes in Japan, there is a 5% consumption tax on all goods and services. Yay for sales tax! Considering New York* has an 8% state sales tax, it's not so bad, though. However, right now I'm paying a reasonable 3.3% income tax. Convert my approximate yearly salary to USD's and I'd likely be in the 28% range in the States.

-Eric

*I know other states are lower -- CT 6%, NH 0%, for example -- but Tokyo is often compared to NYC and I just happened to have lived in NY and know the sales tax. Deal with it.

^ lol yeh and cool.

yup 5% is like 4% nationa and 1% prefectural

lol, thats so many taxes to get. but i guess it evens out in the end.
its 14% in my province in total. thats (as the moment) 7$ government (federal) and 7% provincal. and thats paid at the time of purchase (duh). but you know...some provices pay less and some more. one province pays NO provincal taxes. so their total tax amount they pay upon purchase is 7%. why? they mine oil there. rich province. o.x yep, alberta. get like 14-17$CDN/hr minimum wage too. lol...;_;

I live with about 80,000 yen a month. That is, without the college fees. Just rent, phone, internet, food, transportation and electricity.

Think about it this way. its 121.34 yen to 1 American Dollar. so 100,000 yen is really $824.13.
So its not enough, not even for the States. Be sure to know the currency exchange for whenever you go to another country.
Use this website to see the change of currency rate and see the value of the Japanese Yen to the American dollar or another country. Its a good way to see how much you'll really knew. But you should always plan to have more then you'll actually need.

Currency Calculator

Also talk to someone who live in Japan and see how much they spend. There is a guy who is engaged to a woman from Japan and she is currently living there. I think he can ask her for you.

http://www.japanforum.com/forum/livi...ing-japan.html

Hope that helps. ^_^

I think that a lot of people misunderstand what a "high cost of living" is.

It isn`t simply the amount of money you need to survive - it`s the amount needed to live a normal life at the same standard as everyone else.

Sure, of course you can live in Tokyo, just paying your rent and your utilities, living alone.

But that`s not the "norm". You have to take into account whatever it is you are going to do and the fact that MOST people in Japan are working toward actually having a family. Of course most foreigners aren`t - most work for a while and go home. No need to save up or worry about the future.

But the average Japanese man in Tokyo has a future of paying for a family and all the included costs on that "average" salary. The cost of living IS high because it includes more than just rent, utilities and food. Try making ends meet with a wife and two kids at home (which has to be big enough to house them) on that 250,000/month salary. Oh, and don`t forget, one of the kids will need 35,000/month for kindergarten. Oh, and the other kid is still in diapers - 12,000 a month.

Yes, the cost of living is quite high. They don`t calculate that on single cheapy life. It is a figure from the standard level.

Thats right, also saving money for those children's high school. Unlike in the states, you have to take an entrance exam for high school and pay for it as well. Also you have to take account for the money your going to use for the subway. The money for emergencies, smaller bills like cable, internet and what not.
Japan is one of the highest cost of living in the entire world. You'll pay an average rent for a two bedroom, 1 bath apartment in the states which is about $600-900 depending where you live and get a one room apartment in Japan for the same price.

ad
I ve read that
school is
for free in japan !?

it depends. some are free, some aren't. So I've been told.

only private ones aren t for free i guess.

If you really want to live in Tokyo, but don't have the the cash.

Try living in a Gaijin, and see how you like it.

Elementary schools are technically free. There are VERY few private elementary schools, so most children go to "free" elementary school.

However, I put the free in quotes for a reason.
In Japan, "free" schooling only means that the CLASSES themselves do not cost money.

There is NO WAY that you are going to manage to go without spending some heavy duty cash. You may not have uniforms for regular class, but you do for gym. And they`re pricey. Those little backpacks the kids carry to school? You better be prepared to drop 50,000 for one of those. And then, let`s not forget the school trip - you need to contribute so much a month for that.
And I almost forgot - you need little bags (usually specific to the school) for just about EVERYTHING you have. Indoor shoes (new ones every 3 months), etc etc.

Middle school/junior high is sort of split between public and private. Public is technically free....
But you have a uniform (ungodly expensive) special shoes, school socks, school bags, indoor shoes, school specific supplies, etc. And then the middle school trip is quite a big deal - usually 3 or 4 days of traveling, sometimes by plane, to various places. By the second year, you`ll need to have contributed more than 200,000.
Private is all that PLUS tuition costs.

High schools are not free. It doesn`t matter whether they`re private or state run. They ALL charge for tuition, plus everything else you need for school.

Now when you say 50,000 and 200,000 you mean Yen or Dollar? Just to clarify.

i guess she means yen.
thats more or less 1500 dollars.

intersting.

in germany we dont have a middleschool. we have only primary and highschool.
both are for free. how many years do childs visit highschool?

how much does a uniform cost?

I say, if you're still at school and wanna go to japan without the expense, enter a scholarship.
There are TONNES out there...
and nine times outta ten, all you have to do is write a little essay on why you should learn japanese, or what interests you most.
It's what I did. ^_~
xx

but i dont go to school anymore;)

i m only interested in it cause of maybe having my own childs in japan..

Ah yes, ^_^

Touche`.