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Practical Costs of living in Japan

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Joey2250

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A friend of mine quoted these prices for a Tokyo Area COL. These are in US$
1000 rent
200 utilities
400 food
40 internet
240 nightlife
80 transportation

Totaling $1960/mo

Are these realistic numbers or is he talking about something he knows nothing about?

Joe
 
There's also the cost of settling in, which depends on where you'll be living. Aside from the prices that you can actually predict, I would be very careful about budgeting with any expectation of accuracy. In other words, 1960 sounds kind of low, but it all depends on what you plan on doing and where.
 
True there are always unexpected costs and settling in costs. But for a the categories listed are they accurate, and is there anything missing that would be a reoccurring monthly cost?
 
I wouldn't use US dollars to describe how much things cost here, simply because of the exchange rate varying by the hour. Stick to yen.

Your figure on rent is pretty good, but you have to consider whether you will have to pay key money deposits, amounting to 2-5 times a month's rent. If you move into housing provided by an employer from a previous employee, you shouldn't have to pay that, though.

Nightlife seems a bit thin, especially for Tokyo, but whatever your lifestyle is... Figure on 30,000-50,000 yen/month for someone who drinks out conservatively (a couple times a week).

Transportation only $80/month? Double or triple it, but employers usually pay for that anyway.

Phone and Internet costs can be combined so that you pay 5000-8000 yen/month, but don't forget the installation charges. And, any calls, including local ones, still cost.

Other recurring costs:
health insurance
pension plan
hair styling
magazine/newspaper subscriptions
cable/satellite TV
NHK fee
vices like tobacco or snacks
parking (if you have a car, you must provide parking)
if you need a car, you'll have to pay for gas, too, and perhaps mandatory safety inspection

Lastly, live near the center of Tokyo, and you can easily double that rent.
 
Except all the things you didn't list (Glenski's post), your list includes the main expenses I believe. But their amount is so variable, it totally depends on your lifestyle. For example, 1200 $ for rent and utilities is 150.000 Yen (at the moment), which you would pay for a small apartment in an expensive area or a 2 room apartment for 2 people in a regular area. I believe most young working singles spend less than 100.000 Yen for rent and utilities and even in Tokyo area 70.000 Yen is possible. I give you 2 amounts for some of your items, one for the person with a low budget and one for a young expat (not executive) who has a little higher budget than the average Japanese (in YEN):

rent 70.000 - 200.000
(+ utilities)
food 50.000 - 100.000
nightlife 30.000 - 100.000

For example, it's no uncommon to have a typical 1.000 Yen lunch offer in restaurants every day. It's not expensive but it adds up and some people just go with cup noodles or bento for lunch, this alone saves you about 10.000 a month.
 
240 for nightlife? For a month? Guess you're only going to go out once, maybe twice a month.
 
I wouldn't say 50,000 yen/month for food is low end (budget). One person, too. Say between 30,000 and 50,000. Of course, it depends on the person, carnivore vs. vegetarian, heavyweight vs. bulemic (just kidding), constant snacker vs. an apple a day, etc.
 
One person, 100,000yen is high end. Two people I'd understand, but for that you can get a decent 3 bedroom apartment 30mins from Tokyo/Shinjuku station, or a largish single bedroom 15minutes from anywhere in inner Tokyo (chuo-ku, minato-ku, etc). One person, 60-70,000 would be about right.

Food is spot on. Utilities is right for one person, but if you were using a 100,000yen apartment right utilities would be about 35,000ish. Remember, internet and phone are 'utilities' too.
(I pay 10,000 electric, 5,000 gas, 3,000 water and sewage, 7,000 internet, 7,000 mobile phone - 3 bedroom flat with 3 people)

Transportation would be right at a glance - a trainpass would cost on average 8,000yen for a 30minute commute. BUT, you would go to places outside the pass from time to time, on average 500yen per trip (assuming around 250yen there and again same back). So maybe realistically 10-11,000.
 
> I wouldn't say 50,000 yen/month for food is low end (budget). One person, too. Say between 30,000 and 50,000.

1.000 Yen a day for food... sounds almost like a survival training. ;-) But yes, I can see that it's possible.


> One person, 100,000yen is high end. Two people I'd understand, but for that you can get a decent 3 bedroom apartment 30mins from Tokyo/Shinjuku station

100.000 Yen is high end? Then how do you call the small single apartments in the price range of 100.000 - 200.000 that I see many people, especially gaijins live in? And, a decent 3 bedroom apartment for 100.000? Wow, I didn't know that.
 
kenasto said:
100.000 Yen is high end? Then how do you call the small single apartments in the price range of 100.000 - 200.000 that I see many people, especially gaijins live in? And, a decent 3 bedroom apartment for 100.000? Wow, I didn't know that.
Click to expand...

LoL, they got riped off.

I also think 65-70.000 for one person is fine. Although I live in Kobe, and have no real idea about the prices in Tokyo.

(I pay 23000 for 2 persons 2DK but we were lucky)
 
> I also think 65-70.000 for one person is fine.

I don't know anyone who pays less than 70.000 in Tokyo. One friend pays 70.000 for a tiny apartment. It would be cheaper if you live further away from the Yamanote Stations but most gaiins live close by the city.
 
100,000 yen is not high end if you're living in close... even moderately close. It's a nice place, but but high end it is not.
 
As some have mentioned, Japan has huge settling in costs. Lets say you're moving into a small apartment for $1,000. Before you set foot in the "genkan", you'll have to pay the following (theres probably a thread on this topic somewhere):

Deposit: Usually 2 to 3 months
Key money: Usually 2 months but maybe none depending on the property.
Commission: 1/2 month rent to 1 month rent.

Not to mention the appliaces like washing machine, refirgerator, microwave, etc etc.....

So you'll need about $5K to $6K at least to piss away immediately.

Alternatively, I think there are guest houses for foreigners where you won't have these costs (theres gotta be a thread on that around as well).
 
Although the majority of places require such key money, there are places that don't. Expect it, but if you look hard enough, you can avoid it.
 
As the previous poster mentioned, there are the customary fees such as Reiken (usually 1 or 2 month-worth of rent, which does not get returned to you after the end of the lease) and the 1 or 2-month-rent-worth of security deposit. I recently moved to Tokyo from the Western Japan and I spent easily over JPY 1 million as a start-up cost because I had to buy other household necessities such as the refrigerator, washing machine, microwave, a bunch of furniture, and etc.
The typical rule of thumb for the first month rent is: Reikin 2 months, Security Deposit 2 months, Agency fee 1 month, 1st mo rent and 2nd mo rent
Tokyo covers quite a wide area and some parts of the areas would cater to different socioeconomic classes. I conducted my rental property search by setting up the minimum rent price of JPY 100,000 / month so that I could avoid the low income areas.
The older the building is, the lower the rent is.
 
Here, I'll put it into real terms:

If you want to live in a real place (not a guest house, and not a pile of junk, and not on a farm) expect to "put up" at least 4 months rent total to move in, maybe 5-6. Getting out of key money is easy if you don't mind applying it to the deposit. I told the last few places I moved into that were asking 2/2 I'd go 0 key, 4 deposit, and they accepted.

If you just flat out don't want to pay key money, you will need to have somewhat low standards by the western scale, or zero standards on the Japanese scale.
 
> I told the last few places I moved into that were asking 2/2 I'd go 0 key, 4 deposit, and they accepted.

That's a great idea. Can imagine that some landlords accept such an offer.
 
like everyone else says it totally depends on your lifestyle. I live in Shizuoka prefecture in a medium sized town. Let me break it down for you.
My rent is dirt cheap cuz I live in my schools housing unit. It is old and kinda crappy but it is big. (2 floors). I pay 13,200 yen a month for rent.
My electricity averages around 7,000 a month. The highest I've seen it is about 14,000 and the lowest I've seen it is 3,500. It all depends on how much u will use that terribly inefficient POS heater/air conditioner unit everybody uses. There are cheaper heating options you can look into of course.
Gas.. hmm usually 5,000
water and sewage is about 3,250
Phone... 1,600
Cell phone... 6,300
Hi speed internet and internet TV combo... 6,000 yen (I highly suggest yahoo.BB and BBTV)
Food and fun (extremely variable) I try to budget myself 1000 yen a day for food. Small breakfast consisting of fruit and bread, lunch 700 yen at most.. eat dinner in and you can make decent stuff or 500 yen or less.
basically my food and commodities bill usually runs between 25,000 and 30,000 a month.
going out/events/gym etc.... hmm this one I'd say I spend 30,000 to 40,000 a month. but lately more like 50,000-60,000. I usually go out Friday and Saturday. If you are a drinker find and suck up nomihoudai deals for all they are worth. If you can drink a lot they are definitely your best bet. If you limit yourself to going out only one day a week or just don't drink a lot, or go to private parties etc. you could average it down to 20,000 a month no problem though. I'm I've been a little more liberal lately cuz in addtion to my salary I teach more lessons to people on the side. Its a good way to pick up extra cash for spending money.
so the total...112,350yen.. in dollars in todays exchange rate.. $920.48 not too bad if you ask me. and considering that my biggest expense is also my most controllable one. If I really wanted too I could cut it in half.. But I don't want to. Japan has been a gold mine for me so far, in the fact that I save probably 55-70% of my salary every month. average is 63%.
But my rent is definitely not typical.. if you are away from the big city or a train station though 30,000 to 50,000 for rent is not uncommon.
 
Living in a rural area I find it quite cheep living here. Managing on 150,000
a month I think you'd need to double that for tokyo. Who" wants To live in
Tokyo with noise, pollution, crowds and the high cost of living anyway?
Rural Japan is the best. I,m just 50 miles from Tokyo so it's easy
to get to if I need to.
 
I rented a house in Fukuoka for 60,000 a month with a coworker of mine (30,000 yen a month was great!!). Before that I rented studio a apartment for like 60,000 each (with one parking spot) in a good part of the city. I have friends in and around Tokyo that started out paying in the 100,000 yen range but have since found much cheaper places. The longer you stay the better deals you find or the more you accept the prices.
 
Its all fine and dandy saying that living in the country is better (I'd agree), but I have to live where the jobs are, and it aint Fukuoka or Shizuoka
 
Who" wants To live in
Tokyo with noise, pollution, crowds and the high cost of living anyway?
Click to expand...

About 15 million people apparently. I've lived in Shizuoka before. It's the same thing, only on a smaller scale.
 
I think we should never jump into a conclusion when it comes to the average cost of staying at a place. I would also go with what the other person said it takes some time and experience before one can really get into terms with the country so that cheaper alternatives can be found. Anyways though I have intentions to get to Japan for professional career I have to wait before my company gives me the signal.
 
I am trying to remember a big night out in Japan and I am thinking I pulled out at least 20,000 yen from the ATM. Sometimes I had came back with money and sometimes I had to borrow more. LOL
 
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