Need help with budgeting the cost in Tokyo

hiverloon · 27 Feb 2016

Can someone please review the following budget plan of mine. I am considering to take the offer from UTokyo with a scholarship, but I am just unsure whether the amount I will be getting will make me go through my years of stay there. The following is my planned monthly expense listed with its total amount and the corresponding price:

6 kg chicken/fish (4065 JPY)
6 kg rice (2748 JPY)
4.5 kg bread (1985 JPY)
30 heads of lettuce/any typical vegetables (6570 JPY)
internet (4017 JPY)
health insurance (2500 JPY)
utilities (water, electricity, heater) (3058 JPY)
rent* (37300 JPY)
unexpected (10000 JPY)

TOTAL = 72243 JPY

* it is cheap because it's a student dorm administered by the university.
The information about the prices is based on numbeo.com and UTokyo website. You are right if you think that my meal plan is up to some extent plain, the reason being I am going on a bland diet due to certain medical condition. The one which I can't be certain the most is the 7th item, utilities. I came up with that value by performing linear scaling of the same expense listed here. In this link, the amount is for 85 m2, while my room will be 15 m2, so I multiply the expense for 85 m2 with 15/85. I don't feel quite right with this method, that's why I would like to hear your estimate (I would imagine in my room there will be a 24h/day running fridge, 12h/day rice cooker, normal use of lamp, stove, water, and heating). Somehow I feel like my plan is too cheap to be true. Also, please feel free to add other possibilities which you think I missed.

madphysicist · 27 Feb 2016

I can't tell you any more detail about the prices in Tokyo, but here are some more things to consider:

-transport costs (even if you live right near the university, you probably want to go out occasionally...)
-cosmetic items, shampoo/soap/whatever, cleaning items
-any extra medical costs not covered by insurance, either related to your condition or more general
-costs of going out with friends
-extra clothing, given you probably can't take your whole wardrobe
-cost of getting a Japanese phone + phone plan
-anything you might plan to drink that isn't water
-books, paper, stationery etc. for your studies

There are probably more things that I'm forgetting right now. I don't think you can cover all of these with 10000 yen a month, particularly if you plan to use the metro a lot.

nekojita · 27 Feb 2016

The university should be able to provide you with typical utility costs/budgets. You can't just scale down utility costs by floor area as a fridge/rice cooker for example, will cost pretty much the same in electricity no matter the size of room in which it is used, the same for hot water. Remember also that costs will go up in winter for heating (and summer if you're using aircon).

mdchachi · 28 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
Also, please feel free to add other possibilities which you think I missed.

You missed one really important one. You need a line item for expenditures at Ex Bar.

Seriously though you should add budget for eating out. Or buying ready-made onigiri etc.

hiverloon · 28 Feb 2016

madphysicist said:
-costs of going out with friends

I very rarely do that. When I do, I will probably visit one of my pal's place and therefore only the commuting expenses matter here.

madphysicist said:
-cost of getting a Japanese phone + phone plan

This must vary by lifestyle but thanks for pointing this out. I am not the type who likes talking or texting with phone, nor going online with it. According to my experience in Germany, I usually spend on 20 euros for mobile phone for two months. Taking a plain conversion, it will be roughly 3000 JPY/2 month.

madphysicist said:
-books, paper, stationery etc. for your studies

I will be doing my PhD here, so I can't imagine I will need more than a few writing books. They will mainly be used for recording the data obtained in the lab anyway. For textbooks, I assume UTokyo library has a complete collection of the books in my field.

mdchachi said:
You missed one really important one. You need a line item for expenditures at Ex Bar.

Seriously though you should add budget for eating out. Or buying ready-made onigiri etc.

The flag icon under the profpic can indeed be sometimes misunderstood as the country of nationality. I am living in Germany right now, but I originally come from Asia to pursue my master degree in this country.

mdchachi · 28 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
The flag icon under the profpic can indeed be sometimes misunderstood as the country of nationality. I am living in Germany right now, but I originally come from Asia to pursue my master degree in this country.

Thanks for the clarification. Regardless you can go there to reminisce about your time in Germany assuming you have some fondness for your time there.

Whatever you do don't forget to look around you. You're giving the impression that you'll be ensconced in your school, books, apartment and Internet and won't see anything of Japan or even Tokyo except on your walk to/from the dorm.

hiverloon · 28 Feb 2016

mdchachi said:
Thanks for the clarification. Regardless you can go there to reminisce about your time in Germany assuming you have some fondness for your time there.

Yeah you are right, thanks to the link you gave there I don't have to do online search first in case I miss or want to find something German.

mdchachi said:
Whatever you do don't forget to look around you. You're giving the impression that you'll be ensconced in your school, books, apartment and Internet and won't see anything of Japan or even Tokyo except on your walk to/from the dorm.

I am not exactly like that. In fact, one of the reasons I chose to leave Germany is that because I want a change of pace in my college life. Here in Germany, seeking for funding is easy and the amount you receive is in overall higher than you do in Japan. But the part of the life I don't like here (and in most European countries I guess) is the culture to stop being "lively" when the evening arises and during the weekends. I have already gotten a stressful enough atmosphere in my lab during the working days, thus I want to get a moment of relaxation in the weekends. But what I observe is that the weekend is just the gloomiest day of the week as many shops close and not many people hanging out around as compared to the working days. This is not the case in Japan especially Tokyo, and in Japan in general there are many 24/7 convenience stores. But correct me if I am wrong.

By the way, seeing from your flag icon are you three @mdchachi, @madphysicist, and @nekojita not living in Japan (anymore)?

madphysicist · 28 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
By the way, seeing from your flag icon are you three @mdchachi, @madphysicist, and @nekojita not living in Japan (anymore)?

I'm from the UK, but I came to Germany recently to do my master's thesis. I have only been to Japan on two fairly short trips (total about 2 months), hence I don't offer my opinion on how much stuff costs. I was just making general suggestions of budget items from my experience of moving to different countries.

Re: going out, even if you're not the type to go out drinking and partying, you probably want to put a bit of money aside in case you want to go to karaoke, a film, a festival or whatever other social events might come up.

WonkoTheSane · 28 Feb 2016

I wasn't going to comment since I've never been a student in Japan (I live in Tokyo, I'm on vacation), but I have to agree with everyone who is noting that you're really cutting it close at best.

What happens if you have a medical emergency? Or a family emergency? Or even just need some socks?

If I were you, I'd expect to need at least 50% more than you think.

mdchachi · 28 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
This is not the case in Japan especially Tokyo, and in Japan in general there are many 24/7 convenience stores. But correct me if I am wrong.

Yes that's true. You'll have a never-ending list of things you could do. So you should budget for it (unless you're simply trying to establish a minimum).

hiverloon said:
By the way, seeing from your flag icon are you three @mdchachi, not living in Japan (anymore)?

Yes that's right. I'm just here reliving my Japan glory days. :woot:
I spent most of my 20s in Tokyo and it was great. Now I visit Japan about once a year, usually for business but sometimes with family.

hiverloon · 28 Feb 2016

madphysicist said:
I'm from the UK, but I came to Germany recently to do my master's thesis.

Danke sehr verrückte Physikerin .
(lol, sometimes the gender discrimination for one's profession present in German language can add a sharpened impression in your name - saying your username in German will allow people know that you are not just some random female physicist).
Btw judging from your username you seem to be a physics student. If it is not disturbing to ask, which field of physics is your master thesis about?
About the festivals and shows, yes I am currently listing the various festivals inherent in Japanese custom as well as Tokyo Game Show.

mdchachi said:
Yes that's true. You'll have a never-ending list of things you could do. So you should budget for it (unless you're simply trying to establish a minimum).

Yeah, in particular those 100-yen shops. The insanely vast variety of products along with the upper bound the shop owner set for their price gives me the impression that they established their shop not putting too much care on how much profit they can earn but mainly as a form of an art of showcasing.

Lawrence1 · 28 Feb 2016

Congrats on getting into todai! I was also accepted into it!

There are a few things that are pretty important that you should know about expenses:
First it is very important that you know that there is no guarantee you will get into a dorm (except if you are specifically a MEXT scholarship student, not any another scholarship student).
On average they say only 15-30% of the applicants get into any dorm. The only priority in terms of dorms is for the self-supporting students. Other than them, everyone else is based on luck since it is based on a lot system. Most of us that are in the engineering school are going to apply for the Oiwake dorm (which I assume you want to go to based on the price you put in). So please be aware that you may not get into the dorm of your first choice and you may need to go the Kashiwa dorm and spend hours getting to class every day if your home campus is hongo.

If you don't get into a university of tokyo dorm, don't worry there are many other alternatives that the schools will tell you to look into. But please be aware that they will likely require travel cost and additional rent expenses.

I think they do include free internet for most dorms.

If you are a MEXT scholarship student, you will be staying only in the Komaba campus and you will have higher dorm prices and need to spend money to get to Hongo.

Just be prepared to look for other dorms, apartments, and guest houses and adjust this to your budget to see the worst case. If you are renting an apartment and guest house, it is rather expensive since you need to pay for deposit and reikin charge your first time. Also be prepared to have some money for your first month since you will receive your stipend about 4 weeks after starting.

But glad to find someone else to be accepted into The University of Tokyo! Hope to see your there!

hiverloon · 28 Feb 2016

Lawrence1 said:
The only priority in terms of dorms is for the self-supporting students.

I don't know if they consider me a self-supporting applicant but I actually got awarded with UTokyo Fellowship and the description of this scholarship in the website says

It aims at "providing a research grant to high-achieving, postgraduate international students who are privately-funded to assist their academic pursuits at the University...

Lawrence1 said:
If you are a MEXT scholarship student, you will be staying only in the Komaba campus and you will have higher dorm prices and need to spend money to get to Hongo.

Really, so MEXT awardees will never be able to get away from Komaba?

Lawrence1 said:
But glad to find someone else to be accepted into The University of Tokyo! Hope to see your there!

Same here!

Lawrence1 · 28 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
I don't know if they consider me a self-supporting applicant but I actually got awarded with UTokyo Fellowship and the description of this scholarship in the website says

Really, so MEXT awardees will never be able to get away from Komaba?

Same here!

Hey! I am going to get the same fellowship. You are not considered self-supported student. You are considered a scholarship student. Self-supported students must cover all their tuition expenses themselves.

Look at this page to get info about the prioritization in the application process. (This is for April but the prioritization is the same for October candidates).
Housing Office | Housing Information |

Also yes MEXT students must stay at Komaba and Komaba only. It is strict like this because of the rules of the MEXT organization and people get the scholarship for all the departments and not just the engineering departments.

Please just be prepared for additional housing expenses. The application process for dorms in October is in June and you won't get notification until end of July. If you don't get into a dorm then you only have about 2 months to find a place to live (that is cheap) and rebalance your budget for the first month.

hiverloon · 28 Feb 2016

Lawrence1 said:
Hey! I am going to get the same fellowship. You are not considered self-supported student. You are considered a scholarship student. Self-supported students must cover all their tuition expenses themselves.

If it's just the self-paid tuition as the basis for eligibility then the UTokyo Fellowship awardees can be considered self-supporting because they are not eligible to apply for a tuition exemption. Do you probably mean students who cover all expenses on his/her own?

Lawrence1 · 28 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
If it's just the self-paid tuition as the basis for eligibility then the UTokyo Fellowship awardees can be considered self-supporting because they are not eligible to apply for a tuition exemption. Do you probably mean students who cover all expenses on his/her own?

I see what your saying but that isn't how they define it. They define it as students who are not given university scholarships. If you look on the IME graduate page:

MEM Students who are not awarded MEXT Scholarships are called self-supporting students: they are responsible for their own fees and living expenses.
After entering The University of Tokyo, self-supporting students have chances to apply for several kinds of private scholarships. However, please note that many well qualified students compete for these scholarships and the scholarship amounts are often lower than the MEXT Scholarship. Basically there are almost no scholarships available before your enrollment.

By the way it is phrased self-supported students are students chosen for no scholarships.

Also it is implied here:
"Top qualified students will be awarded scholarships from the Japanese Government's Monbu-kagakusho (MEXT: The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) or equivalent scholarships from the University of Tokyo. We also seek several more highly qualified students to enroll as self-supporting students."

Also if you are wondering if we are given the MEXT guaranteed dorms, we are not. It specifies that on the housing office website.

madphysicist · 28 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
Danke sehr verrückte Physikerin .
(lol, sometimes the gender discrimination for one's profession present in German language can add a sharpened impression in your name - saying your username in German will allow people know that you are not just some random female physicist).
Btw judging from your username you seem to be a physics student. If it is not disturbing to ask, which field of physics is your master thesis about?

Yeah, part of the reason I went for a pink icon is so that people wouldn't assume I am a man from the "physicist" label.

My thesis is about particle dark matter, so a cross between particle physics and cosmology. I will apply for the MEXT scholarship to do a PhD in particle physics.

hiverloon · 28 Feb 2016

Lawrence1 said:
Hey! I am going to get the same fellowship.

By the way, do you know the monthly amount we get from UT Fellowship?

madphysicist said:
My thesis is about particle dark matter, so a cross between particle physics and cosmology. I will apply for the MEXT scholarship to do a PhD in particle physics.

That's an all-theoretical subject, alright good luck both with your thesis defense and the PhD application.

Lawrence1 · 29 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
By the way, do you know the monthly amount we get from UT Fellowship?

We all get the same amount for our respective degree level. Since you are doing Ph.d you will probably get paid a little more than me. For the actual amount, go to your acceptance letter and look on page 2. I don't think Todai would be happy if I just publicized the amount since even they don't disclose that.

madphysicist · 29 Feb 2016

Lawrence1 said:
We all get the same amount for our respective degree level. Since you are doing Ph.d you will probably get paid a little more than me. For the actual amount, go to your acceptance letter and look on page 2. I don't think Todai would be happy if I just publicized the amount since even they don't disclose that.

Isn't it this one?
University of Tokyo Fellowship; The University of Tokyo Special Scholarship for International Students | The University of Tokyo
It says 200,000 or 150,000. I guess you have to pay the tuition out of that though right?

hiverloon · 29 Feb 2016

Lawrence1 said:
For the actual amount, go to your acceptance letter and look on page 2.

It says 200k JPY/month, the same as that in the link shared by @madphysicist above. I am just curious though if you know from somewhere else where the nominal is different from the above.

Lawrence1 · 29 Feb 2016

hiverloon said:
It says 200k JPY/month, the same as that in the link shared by @madphysicist above. I am just curious though if you know from somewhere else where the nominal is different from the above.

I guess the 200k is the best applicants and the 150k is for the remaining applicants given the scholarship. Since students in either master or ph.d can both get 200k.

Majestic · 29 Feb 2016

This link might be interesting to those wondering about budgets. Also, there is another thread imbedded in the link below that you will also find interesting.

Evaluating the financial situation of the MEXT scholar. | Japan Forum

Need help with budgeting the cost in Tokyo

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