Average salary in Tokyo

[e-smile]

What would an acceptable before-tax salary in Tokyo be? I have accepted a position and will begin mid-August: I did my homework of course and know for sure my salary will be higher than the average foreign professional in my industry... but but but will it be enough to survive, save something and still nurture my interests and social life?

So, according to everybody's experience, what would a decent salary for a freshman in Japan be? Don't need specific figures, just a range to have an idea of what to expect... Thanks

some people do more than surviving with the minimum Japanese salary and some people aren't satisfied with twice that salary so it all depends on you and your way of living.
You need to tell more about your way of living if you want a good answer, for example can you live outside of the Yamanote line or do you absolutely need to live 2 min walking distance from Shibuya station ?

 

[Yuriko]

What would an acceptable before-tax salary in Tokyo be? I have accepted a position and will begin mid-August: I did my homework of course and know for sure my salary will be higher than the average foreign professional in my industry... but but but will it be enough to survive, save something and still nurture my interests and social life?

So, according to everybody's experience, what would a decent salary for a freshman in Japan be? Don't need specific figures, just a range to have an idea of what to expect... Thanks

I think that can be a pretty much decent start, as a bilingual professional, IMO. Even foreign affilated companies I've seen offer for accountant job ab 350K per month. Before tax and you share apartment wage is certainly juicy deal to local Japanese eyes. Japan is not a wage paradise anymore, unless you're a top ranked professional. There are lots of jobs you get only from 200K.

 

[Sudsy]

Ok, just for the discussion's sake: is 350k acceptable by any standard?

Entirely depends on industry, location, education and experience. For an English teacher, quite high. For an electrical engineer, hell no.

 

[Desktop]

IT engineering, programming & Finance related jobs are not the average jobs. They are high end jobs that have to be compare amongst high end jobs.
I believe average jobs are around 300,000 to 400,000 yen a month where you can live without struggling. This is based on people around around me but I don't have many English teachers around me.

 

[Kaspar]

Y350k/month is Y4.2 million annually pre-tax. Assuming your wife makes about the same, around 8 million annually pre-tax for your household with a child. I'm assuming here that you all live together.

Annual rent you pay is Y720k if the company subsidizes half the rent, around 1/10th of your total income.

Can you survive on that? Probably. But I don't know if that gives you a comfortable life with savings *and* hobby money to spare on top of that. Maybe someone else could tell you that.

Based on your salary, the fact that you speak English and are a foreigner, my guess is that you are an English instructor.

I work in education, but I don't teach English. Before accepting my job, I did a bit of a research (Facebook and Gaijinpot mostly) and discovered that most teachers make between 200k to 350k, hence the figure I tossed in.

 

[just4fun]

I will have a 15k commuting allowance and my apartment will actually be quite close to my work... I'm considering getting a bicycle and cash in all the allowance...

Just don't have an accident on the bike because that will be a cause for dismissal. You'll be accused and found guilty of exactly what your planning to do. I know a guy that this happened to and have heard stories of others getting canned for "stealing"

 

[Kaspar]

3.5-4.5m is entrance level salary in many careers. Just check some job portals. Is it comfortable in Tokyo? I don't think so. Will you have to starve? Probably not. However such things really depend on your lifestyle. If you only have to pay 55k rent for a decent apartment in a convenient location, that's a good start.

My school gave me an apartment in Minato, which is alright since I will be very close to work. Rent is too high: I will be living alone and don't need a big space for myself, but I plan to change it after one year. I'm a frugal person, don't need fancy stuff.

 

[ShowaJidai]

I think that can be a pretty much decent start, as a bilingual professional, .

でもコイツは日本語がしゃべらないと思う何だけど給料が高いかもしらない。日本語が出来る人ならこの質問を聞く必要がないでしょう？最初から会社から家賃の手伝い、ボーナス有りなし、色んな細かい事を言わずに聞くのはおかしいと思う。

 

[Kaspar]

Just don't have an accident on the bike because that will be a cause for dismissal. You'll be accused and found guilty of exactly what your planning to do. I know a guy that this happened to and have heard stories of others getting canned for "stealing"

I've been pedaling for two years in a Chinese city where traffic is a daily horror movie and I made it through unscathed...

 

[Kaspar]

I think the average household gross income in Tokyo is around 480,000. So if you and your spouse make around 350,000 each then that would put you well above average. Of course as mentioned above it all depends on the lifestyle you plan to live. I remember having colleagues that made that much and they seemed to survive. You probably won't have much for P4P.

I have been wondering lately what the average salary is for regular users of TAG. I make a decent living, but can't see myself spending as much as some of posters. Either I'm not making enough or am just a cheap bastard. Probably the later.

I'm a cheap bastard too, but I prefer the word frugal... gives me an intellectual edge...

 

[just4fun]

I've been pedaling for two years in a Chinese city where traffic is a daily horror movie and I made it through unscathed...

Was just saying. Do what you have to do.

 

[Ken1988]

For Y350K pre-tax monthly salary, its take home pay would be around Y280K. Unless your kid is in an international school in Tokyo, that much of money would be sufficient to have a simple family life in Tokyo even if your spouse doesn't work.

 

[MossBoss]

I will have a 15k commuting allowance and my apartment will actually be quite close to my work... I'm considering getting a bicycle and cash in all the allowance...

I have never heard of a company having a set fee for commuting. People get paid whatever the monthly train pass is to their apartment. I know people who use the Shinkansen on a daily basis - all covered.

 

[MikeH]

Unless your kid is in an international school in Tokyo, that much of money would be sufficient to have a simple family life in Tokyo even if your spouse doesn't work.

Then again unless you or your spouse is Japanese it's pretty much guaranteed your kids end up in an international school. And the cost of that is around what his take home pay is. In any case that is not a salary you'll be visiting the high end soap lands regularly.

 

[Kaspar]

I have never heard of a company having a set fee for commuting. People get paid whatever the monthly train pass is to their apartment. I know people who use the Shinkansen on a daily basis - all covered.

They gave me an apartment, so commuting has been set on the daily cost of a metro round ticket.

 

[MikeH]

I have never heard of a company having a set fee for commuting. People get paid whatever the monthly train pass is to their apartment. I know people who use the Shinkansen on a daily basis - all covered.

True. But then I think that sum might be what a commuter pass in his case costs; the school set him up with the apartment so they'd know.

 

[Kaspar]

Then again unless you or your spouse is Japanese it's pretty much guaranteed your kids end up in an international school. And the cost of that is around what his take home pay is. In any case that is not a salary you'll be visiting the high end soap lands regularly.

International school fees are insanely expensive and I want my kid to attend local schools till High School at least.

 

[MikeH]

International school fees are insanely expensive and I want my kid to attend local schools till High School at least.

I have a lots of Japanese friends that had the same plan. In Tokyo they all failed. If they were lucky they lived in an area with a nice elementary school. But all changed to private for junior high school.

It's not the question if the schools or teacher are bad, but just that in Tokyo everyone who wants to study, or whose parents make them, will go to private school at that time. So if you go to public junior high then you end up with all those kids who are not interested in studying.

Moreover it's going to be tough if nobody in the family speaks, reads and writes native level Japanese. The schools here require a lot of participation from parents, which mostly means the mother. So if you don't know what the stuff your kid brings home every day says you'll be in trouble.

 

[MikeH]

Just don't have an accident on the bike because that will be a cause for dismissal. You'll be accused and found guilty of exactly what your planning to do. I know a guy that this happened to and have heard stories of others getting canned for "stealing"

I would actually take this one seriously. Believe me they will find out and if it's against the rules then you'll start up with all wrong foot for just a tiny amount of money.

Rather I would find out what are the rules for bicycling, many bigger companies will have written them down.

 

[Kaspar]

I have a lots of Japanese friends that had the same plan. In Tokyo they all failed. If they were lucky they lived in an area with a nice elementary school. But all changed to private for junior high school.

It's not the question if the schools or teacher are bad, but just that in Tokyo everyone who wants to study, or whose parents make them, will go to private school at that time. So if you go to public junior high then you end up with all those kids who are not interested in studying.

Moreover it's going to be tough if nobody in the family speaks, reads and writes native level Japanese. The schools here require a lot of participation from parents, which mostly means the mother. So if you don't know what the stuff your kid brings home every day says you'll be in trouble.

Primary and Middle school are free of charge in Japan, while High School are not, hence the desire to change to a private institute if you have the resources for that.
Things aren't all that different in China where well off people opt for private schools in order to spare their children the burden of public system (where homework is overwhelming at least)...
My son is still young and we put him in a private Kindergarten, but he will go public from 6 to 14.

 

[Kaspar]

I would actually take this one seriously. Believe me they will find out and if it's against the rules then you'll start up with all wrong foot for just a tiny amount of money.

Rather I would find out what are the rules for bicycling, many bigger companies will have written them down.

That's why I'm quite worried at the moment... I'm trying to get ready for the big cultural shock of working in Japan as opposed to China, where rules are crazy tight, but seldom enforced.

 

[Kaspar]

I think that can be a pretty much decent start, as a bilingual professional, IMO. Even foreign affilated companies I've seen offer for accountant job ab 350K per month. Before tax and you share apartment wage is certainly juicy deal to local Japanese eyes. Japan is not a wage paradise anymore, unless you're a top ranked professional. There are lots of jobs you get only from 200K.

True that, China now is the top destination for higher salaries... Till it lasts of course.

 

[MikeH]

Primary and Middle school are free of charge in Japan, while High School are not, hence the desire to change to a private institute if you have to resource for that.

Yeah, you pay for public high schools but the private ones are still around three times more expensive. The reason for many kids switching to private schools already in Middle (Junior High) school is that the entrance examinations for private high schools are way harder than for middle schools. And normally the private schools let you just enter their high school without exams if you come from their middle school. There are even some private schools where you enter at kindergarten and emerge with university degree.

And even if the kid is going to public school you'll have to account for the cram school fees. Interestingly enough the stuff that the private middle or high schools are asking in their entrance examinations is not covered during your normal school years. So most kids end up going to cram school several nights per week for years to prepare for the entrance exams. And yeah, even if they go to private high school their still need to go to cram schools for university exams.

Gotta love that stuff. At least if you are a cram school teacher. Many of my friends and now their kids who are from well known universities are teaching in cram schools and making 5-6k per hour in their twenties.

 

[Coda87]

Japanese salaries always confused me. Because from what I understand from Japanese friends, they are paid a monthy salary that seems low. But then you have the factor in the semi-annual bonus which from what i understand can be pretty substantial (1.5-2x the monthly salary each bonus). So if someone says they get 350k yen a month but they also get two 700k bonuses in summer and winter, thats and average mo. salary of $467k yen

 

[Kaspar]

Yeah, you pay for public high schools but the private ones are still around three times more expensive. The reason for many kids switching to private schools already in Middle (Junior High) school is that the entrance examinations for private high schools are way harder than for middle schools. And normally the private schools let you just enter their high school without exams if you come from their middle school. There are even some private schools where you enter at kindergarten and emerge with university degree.

And even if the kid is going to public school you'll have to account for the cram school fees. Interestingly enough the stuff that the private middle or high schools are asking in their entrance examinations is not covered during your normal school years. So most kids end up going to cram school several nights per week for years to prepare for the entrance exams. And yeah, even if they go to private high school their still need to go to cram schools for university exams.

Gotta love that stuff. At least if you are a cram school teacher. Many of my friends and now their kids who are from well known universities are teaching in cram schools and making 5-6k per hour in their twenties.

Good info, thanks. My wife went through the public system for all of her school run and I'm a product of my country's public system myself... so, not all is bad.