Cost Of Living In Japan Relative To Income

[zer0ed]

I am curious of those of you who live within an hour commute of the Yamanote-sen, a breakdown of approximately how much it costs to live in Tokyo on a per month basis? This would include: rent, utilities (gas, electricity, maintenance fees etc), transportation, internet/phone, income taxes (and deductibles) and whatever other mandatory costs. Please do not include your mongering expenses since that can totally throw things off.

From what I understand, correct me if I am wrong, that small studio apartments can be had in Shibuya for Y100,000 monthly. Utilities from 10,000-20,000 monthly depending on season, transportation about 15,000, internet and phone for 15,000, and marginal tax rate of around 20% if making around 3.5M yearly. So, this means that making Y250k monthly would roughly be livable? Sounds a bit low. Please enlighten me.

 

[Wwanderer]

Mongering costs are the difference between living and existing, aren't they?!

More seriously, there have been discussions of this question in years past on TAG...I recall one particularly extensive one, and opinions on what would constitute minimal expenses varied a great deal, but ¥250k would definitely be considered at the very low end of the livable range by the standards of those previous posts. I don't recall anyone plausibly defending any number below about ¥300k/month (pre-tax) for living within or near the Yamanote loop.

-Ww

 

[zer0ed]

Mongering costs are the difference between living and existing, aren't they?!

More seriously, there have been discussions of this question in years past on TAG...I recall one particularly extensive one, and opinions on what would constitute minimal expenses varied a great deal, but ¥250k would definitely be considered at the very low end of the livable range by the standards of those previous posts. I don't recall anyone plausibly defending any number below about ¥300k/month (pre-tax) for living within or near the Yamanote loop.

-Ww

Thanks! Are you referring to this one: https://tokyoadultguide.com/threads/taxes-in-japan-living-comfortably.9722/#post-42793

 

[k1234k]

I don't recall anyone plausibly defending any number below about ¥300k/month (pre-tax) for living within or near the Yamanote loop.

The run of the mill full time English teacher on a humanities visa earns 250,000 yen/month (because that salary minimum is mandated by Immigration).

Plenty of them living in apartments- not cardboard boxes- within the Tokyo loop.

That being said, a monthly salary of pretax 250k is only about USD$700/month above the official Japan poverty line, so your life isn't exactly all wine, women and song.

 

[zer0ed]

Okay, read some other threads about expenses, lets talk income. A little about myself, I have a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, with about 3 years experience in retail management and about a year experience in an institutional setting (hospital, government). Planning to take about a year off (taking a huge pay cut) so I can hone my Japanese to an acceptable level. The big question is: are there any sustainable jobs given my background within Japan to warrant staying long-term? From all my research, my options are pretty limited and don't pay nearly as well as compared to NA. The other option would be to continue onto grad school with a MEXT scholarship. Does anyone know of someone else with a similar background doing well in Japan?

 

[MossBoss]

Planning to take about a year off (taking a huge pay cut) so I can hone my Japanese to an acceptable level.

You seem to indicate that you have a lot of money and want to study Japanese seriously. Why not just spend a year at a Japanese language school? It shouldn't be overly expensive.

 

[Wwanderer]

Thanks! Are you referring to this one: https://tokyoadultguide.com/threads/taxes-in-japan-living-comfortably.9722/#post-42793

No. I was thinking of much older threads...several years or more back and not about taxes very much, but more recent threads are no less, maybe more, relevant of course.

-Ww

 

[zer0ed]

You seem to indicate that you have a lot of money and want to study Japanese seriously. Why not just spend a year at a Japanese language school? It shouldn't be overly expensive.

Haha, "a lot" may be a bit of an exaggeration, the cost of living where I am is pretty extreme too. Plus, I think most people would be taking a pay cut in this situation. I could barely afford my down-payment and the mortgage is no fun either. The rest is invested and I personally like to save up as opposed to digging into those savings right now. Push comes to shove though, I can probably afford to be unemployed for a year and a bit. Being single now helps a bit and frees up time for other endeavours. I want to at least keep a neutral balance sheet throughout the year even if I can't save up, but the endgame is to not to have to worry about finances another 20 years down the road. What would you say are the advantages of a Japanese language school as opposed to learning in a Japanese-speaking environment? The most obvious would be writing and test-taking skills. I've not taken any proficiency exams, but after 2-3 years of classroom (years and years ago) Japanese I am able to chat with people through messaging and probably at a JLPT 3 level. I really just want to be able to converse fluently, for various reasons. But from what I understand from reading various peoples' opinions, if you can speak at a native level during an interview and communicate in writing proficiently, local jobs are within reach.

 

[zer0ed]

No. I was thinking of much older threads...several years or more back and not about taxes very much, but more recent threads are no less, maybe more, relevant of course.

-Ww

Gonna take another stab at it: https://tokyoadultguide.com/threads/comfortable-living-in-japan-how-much-per-month.3511/
I have a feeling this is the one you are referring to back in 2011?

 

[Wwanderer]

Gonna take another stab at it: https://tokyoadultguide.com/threads/comfortable-living-in-japan-how-much-per-month.3511/
I have a feeling this is the one you are referring to back in 2011?

That's it!

-Ww

 

[vondoom]

as for school, it isnt that bad, at least it guarantees you lessons and practise... just being in a japanese environment doesnt cut it in my experience, because you dont know if you will end up in a japanese company, you dont know if youll get to know enough japanese people to hang around with and allmost certainly they will talk english to you... happens to the majority of foreigners here...

 

[meiji]

I am curious of those of you who live within an hour commute of the Yamanote-sen, a breakdown of approximately how much it costs to live in Tokyo on a per month basis?

From what I understand, correct me if I am wrong, that small studio apartments can be had in Shibuya for Y100,000 monthly. Utilities from 10,000-20,000 monthly depending on season, transportation about 15,000, internet and phone for 15,000, and marginal tax rate of around 20% if making around 3.5M yearly. So, this means that making Y250k monthly would roughly be livable? Sounds a bit low. Please enlighten me.

As with anything, it really depends on the quality of life you want. "small" in Tokyo is really small. But you can pretty easily find an okay place for ¥10 man/month that's at least striking distance from Shibuya. I dated a woman that had a fairly standard studio a station or two away from Meguro Station for ¥8 man/mo, and her employer was subsidizing her rent, so she only paid half that. Plus her transit was subsidized as well.

I think the biggest question is whether you want to eat out a lot or eat a lot of western food, or willing to live like a local, eat at home, etc. Eating out or wanting foreign food can really add up. Going out eating and drinking at Devil Craft is going to be easily 2x or more expensive than a night at your local izakaya drinking nama biru.

There's a lot of other expenses not included in your breakdown- health insurance and retirement are both mandatory, and can be fairly expensive. If you are enrolled in the government plans, you pay more for health insurance the higher your income.

Planning to take about a year off (taking a huge pay cut) so I can hone my Japanese to an acceptable level. The big question is: are there any sustainable jobs given my background within Japan to warrant staying long-term?

Keep in mind that even with an N1 you still may not qualify to work in the medical field. The N1 gets you to a high school or maybe college level, but practically no medical terminology is going to be part of that. There's infamous Japanese programs for bringing nurse 'trainees' into the country, where they get to work for a year. These are usually Filipina or from somewhat underdeveloped Asian countries. After their year there they can stay if they pass the nursing exam....which is in Japanese. Needless to say, very very few get to stick around. That's not to say you couldn't get there of course.

Probably the best thing to do is a) check with any networking resources you have about possible jobs over there and/or what the job market is like and b) check sites like Career Cross and others to see if there's any jobs and what they pay.

 

[zer0ed]

As with anything, it really depends on the quality of life you want. "small" in Tokyo is really small. But you can pretty easily find an okay place for ¥10 man/month that's at least striking distance from Shibuya. I dated a woman that had a fairly standard studio a station or two away from Meguro Station for ¥8 man/mo, and her employer was subsidizing her rent, so she only paid half that. Plus her transit was subsidized as well.

I think the biggest question is whether you want to eat out a lot or eat a lot of western food, or willing to live like a local, eat at home, etc. Eating out or wanting foreign food can really add up. Going out eating and drinking at Devil Craft is going to be easily 2x or more expensive than a night at your local izakaya drinking nama biru.

There's a lot of other expenses not included in your breakdown- health insurance and retirement are both mandatory, and can be fairly expensive. If you are enrolled in the government plans, you pay more for health insurance the higher your income.



Keep in mind that even with an N1 you still may not qualify to work in the medical field. The N1 gets you to a high school or maybe college level, but practically no medical terminology is going to be part of that. There's infamous Japanese programs for bringing nurse 'trainees' into the country, where they get to work for a year. These are usually Filipina or from somewhat underdeveloped Asian countries. After their year there they can stay if they pass the nursing exam....which is in Japanese. Needless to say, very very few get to stick around. That's not to say you couldn't get there of course.

Probably the best thing to do is a) check with any networking resources you have about possible jobs over there and/or what the job market is like and b) check sites like Career Cross and others to see if there's any jobs and what they pay.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm pretty comfortable living in Japanese-sized homes, eating Japanese food and cooking at home (so having a kitchen is important). Last time I stayed in a studio apartment near shin-yurigaoka which had nothing but a bed, desk, TV, and tiny kitchen and bathroom (maybe total area of 8 tatami mats) for 6man/month. Eating out to me usually means gyuu-don or bento which are for convenience. When I do make some Japanese friends, perhaps I would have to revise my "eating out" budget. 8-12man/month for a place so close to downtown is surprisingly affordable in my mind, so that's a relief to hear.

I guess the consensus is still that it's pretty darn hard to find employment in medicine, and therefore not many people will opt for this route. Somehow I kind of regret not going into computer sciences and IT even though I loved that during my formative years

 

[meiji]

8-12man/month for a place so close to downtown is surprisingly affordable in my mind, so that's a relief to hear.

Well, the woman I was dating is Japanese, so she might be able to find a cheaper/better place than a foreigner might...

I guess the consensus is still that it's pretty darn hard to find employment in medicine, and therefore not many people will opt for this route.

Keep in mind that to get an employment visa, you have to have a skill or education/experience. your 4 year degree could get you a job in that field, or as a native English speaker (I'm assuming) you can teach English or do other 'humanities' type things like translation, and that's really about it. In order to get a different type of job you have to have documented skill or experience. For engineering (IT, etc) as an example you need 10 years of documented experience.

 

[BladeRunner]

The "Humanities" working visa also covers working as a Recruitment Consultant, all you need is a degree and you can earn over 10M upwards in your 1st/2nd year if you are any good at it. (It's sales so not everyone is suited to it)
Doesn't require Japanese and Pharmaceutical/Healthcare recruiting would spring to mind given your background.
Happy to send you a list of firms if you like.

 

[vondoom]

the ten year rule is only for people without a degree and limits you to whatever you got the experience in... if you got a degree, then you can technically work wherever they hire you...

 

[e-smile]

I am curious of those of you who live within an hour commute of the Yamanote-sen, a breakdown of approximately how much it costs to live in Tokyo on a per month basis? This would include: rent, utilities (gas, electricity, maintenance fees etc), transportation, internet/phone, income taxes (and deductibles) and whatever other mandatory costs. Please do not include your mongering expenses since that can totally throw things off.

From what I understand, correct me if I am wrong, that small studio apartments can be had in Shibuya for Y100,000 monthly. Utilities from 10,000-20,000 monthly depending on season, transportation about 15,000, internet and phone for 15,000, and marginal tax rate of around 20% if making around 3.5M yearly. So, this means that making Y250k monthly would roughly be livable? Sounds a bit low. Please enlighten me.

you don't have to live in shibuya, for 100k or even 80k per month you can have a decent appartement in many good locations.

 

[Wwanderer]

you don't have to live in shibuya, for 100k or even 80k per month you can have a decent appartement in many good locations.

But then you should add the monthly cost of taxis home from Shibuya/Dogenzaka after last train!

-Ww

 

[Wwanderer]

But then you should add the monthly cost of taxis home from Shibuya/Dogenzaka after last train!

Actually, if you have a decent place in Shibuya and don't mind keeping it reasonably clean and tidy, you can save not only on taxi fares but can also avoid paying for an LH room most nights.

-Ww

 

[e-smile]

Actually, if you have a decent place in Shibuya and don't mind keeping it reasonably clean and tidy, you can save not only on taxi fares but can also avoid paying for an LH room most nights.

-Ww

you don't have to spend most nights in Shibuya, it's not the only interesting place in Tokyo.
not living there doesn't necessarily mean you have to go to LH and take taxi all the time.

 

[Wwanderer]

you don't have to spend most nights in Shibuya, it's not the only interesting place in Tokyo.
not living there doesn't necessarily mean you have to go to LH and take taxi all the time.

Very true of course. I am being more flip than serious, thus the smilie face.

Personally I live far from Shibuya.

-Ww

 

[e-smile]

Very true of course. I am being more flip than serious, thus the smilie face.

Personally I live far from Shibuya.

-Ww

haha sorry for being serious

 

[BIPSY]

I can't really comment on the job market in your field as its outside my experience but I can definitely speak from experience on living on practically nothing in Tokyo.

I live in west Tokyo about a 7~10 minute train ride from Shinjuku or about 16 minutes or so from Shibuya. For reference I did spend a bit too much time on Dogenzaka a month or so ago (haha) and the taxi back was about 3600 yen, so that should give you an idea of the rough distance.

I've been living in this area for 10 or so years now and I was ULTRA broke when I first moved here. I had been living in the south of Japan for a while but wanted to move up to Tokyo and figured the most direct path was just to quit my job with a bit of savings and make the leap. I pretty quickly found a part time teaching gig and ended up working my way up from there.

When I moved here first I was living in a "gaijin house" (share house) which was 65,000 a month for everything but electricity which was usually under 5,000 a month. So 70,000 all-in.
The benefit to that is I didn't need a guarantor or key money and it was only a 30,000 refundable deposit plus my first month's rent to get in the door.

I stayed there for about 6 months before I moved in to an ultra-cheap studio. It was about 7 minutes walk from the station and cost me 38,000 yen a month (plus electricity, so 43,000 or so total) but was a roach trap, had a shared bathroom and no shower/bathtub. That said, it was pretty big - more than enough space for a single guy. I've seen apartments like that for under 30,000 JPY in my neighborhood but you don't want to get your hopes up too much in terms of cleanliness or space. No shower sounds like it would suck but you've got a bunch of options: gym, sento (public bath), manga cafe, coin shower at the laundromat, etc so its not as horrible as you might imagine. I got a monthly membership to the public gym for about 3,000 yen a month and that gave me access to their showers whenever I needed.

The downside: apartments like that usually require key money (non-refundable), deposit (theoretically refundable), first months rent and another month's rent as the payment for the rental agency. You'll usually have a bit of insurance added on too (for theft/fire/disaster etc). So while you could move in to the gaijin house for under 100,000 yen you'd need about 175,000 yen or so to get in the door of the cheaper place. You usually also need a guarantor (a Japanese person who will vouch for you on the lease) and if you don't have one you might need to use a guarantor agent who will charge you a couple hundred bucks too. So say 200,000 yen or so to get in the door.

If you're living that centrally transportation costs are minimal. I have a monthly train pass to Shibuya (since I'm there or Shinjuku for work most days) and its only about 5000 yen a month. Tack on another 3000 yen or so for slightly further trips or going somewhere not on the pass and you should be set. Riding taxis will drive this up VERY quickly so if you're on a budget you either make sure you catch the last train or wear comfortable shoes.

Food can be expensive but one other benefit of living slightly outside of the center of town is an abundance of grocery shops/food options. There are a ton of discount supermarkets in my neighborhood and I was definitely able to eat on 6000 yen or so a week back when things were tight. Right now because of work I barely ever eat at home and usually end up in a Starbucks or something to send emails about every day but I can still get by on 2000 yen a day without even trying. One BIG trick to eating well on a budget in Tokyo is to have lunch as your biggest meal. Lots of restaurants that charge 2000~3000 yen for dinner do lunch specials at 700 yen or so. If you have time to cook just hit up produce stores (seasonal veggies are super cheap) and discounter supers and you can drop 1500 or so and have meals for 3 days no problem.

Health Insurance / Retirement Insurance are mandatory but there are really no penalties in place to enforce them. If you're working full time somewhere they'll usually handle that all in the HR department so it'll just be deducted from your paycheck. If you're part time or on commission its up to you to either sign up for it or not. I'm on the pension plan and its about 15,000 a month but if you were only coming over for a year there's zero reason to bother with that unless your company automatically enrolls you. Worst case scenario is you'll get a few phone calls that you can just ignore (did that for years and years until I finally just got on). I'm still not on insurance even though I could easily pay for it because I never go to the doctors and in the rare instance I do doctor's visits in Japan are SUPER cheap. Like, 5000 yen or less unless its something really major. I think I once got X-Rays and it was still under 7000 yen. I've got private hospitalization insurance but have zero motivation to get on the national health insurance and have never even been called about that. No issues with visa either - I got all the way to permanent resident without it ever coming up.

Taxes are under 20% if your income is low - maybe closer to 13%? Again if you're full time the company will just deduct it all from your pay, if you're part time or on some other non-regular work you get to do it yourself and employ "creative accounting".

Depending on what your needs are for the internet you can get a smart phone with tethering and have the whole thing come in at 7000 yen or so if you shop around a little. There are a ton of cheap options out there so if you budget 10,000 yen for communications you're gonna be totally set unless you've got some really specific needs.

So, if you're OK with kind of sort of living like a scumbag you could probably get by with this budget:

43,000 - rent and utilities
7,000 - shower, everyday necessities (soap, cleaning stuff, toilet paper, etc)
20,000 - food
10,000 - transportation
10,000 - communication
Total - about 90,000 a month (not counting money that goes to taxes)

I'd say that's about the bare, bare, bare minimum for what you'd need to survive in Tokyo but that includes zero creature comforts.

That said even a really low paying English teaching job will usually net about 1,500 yen an hour. So breaking that down you only need to work 60 hours a month to cover your basics.
I know I used to swing 3000 yen an hour for private lessons back in the day (although that was 10 years ago so things may have changed) so if you could swing 8 of those a week (which is cake) that would also cover you.
As mentioned above an average starting salary for a full time English teacher is 250,000 a month so that would cover you twice over if you were cool living like this.

I realize this probably isn't a realistic option for most people reading this thread - its not a lifestyle I'd really want to lead myself again, haha - but I just wanted to provide it as one possibility.
This also doesn't take into account any visa issues or things like that - oftentimes part time jobs won't or can't sponsor your visa - so that's another thing to keep in mind.
But if you wanted to come over to study and improve your Japanese it might help to keep something like this in mind as a jumping off point - if you're only working ~20 hours a week you can spend a hell of a lot of time studying Japanese and skilling up.

 

[Anna Summer]

Just a quick note:
Be careful about the national health insurance. You are required by law to either enroll the national health insurance or the health insurance provided by work. Sometimes this may be not a problem to avoid but there have been foreigners caught and needed to pay the whole missing years they weren't insured.
Although as a student you wouldn't have to pay much. Usually around 1000¥ a month. Some schools cover the 30% you need to pay for a doctors visit. (But no dentist, back pain problems and diseases you already had in your own country)

 

[Desktop]

There's also a lot of people I've run across who don't pay their ward tax & then find out they can't renew their visa without paying it all.