As a Japanese, I recently came across a news report that gave me pause. Costco, operating in Japan, has been hiring part-time workers at a wage of 1,500 JPY ($10) per hour. This move has drawn criticism from local Japanese supermarkets which typically offer around $6 per hour. These businesses are concerned that Costco's high wages will attract their workforce away. Observing this situation, I couldn't help but feel a sense of despair for the future of my country.
The markets cannot both keep increasing their prices and expect workers to stay for the same wage. Both have to increase, or the workers will find a job that lets them pay for food… ie Costco.
Yes, your country is being exploited by the West due to the yen/USD gap such as Warren Buffet and Black Rock who are buying up Japanese homes to rent out as they doing in the USA - the low-frequency Japanophiles here do not know such details because because they don't read global financial news.
that's still extremely cheap compared to major U.S. cities. a couple years ago, i was living in an 80 square foot apartment in venice beach for $1000/mo with a shared bathroom among the entire floor of about 16 units & just a sink in the room. it's up to $1800 now, i think. hell, even in bigger cities in middle of nowhere states, i was paying $1800 for a 600 square foot studio - in mississippi, until recently. i guess it depends on where you folks are living, but e.g. one of my best friends is living in San Diego in a 2bdr with 4 roommates for $3700. when i first moved to los angeles (santa monica) in 2008, i was paying $600 to share a bedroom in a 3 bedroom condo - i had 7 roommates then. just the fact this is *tokyo* the idea of spending less than $1500/month for ANY room is astounding to me.
I live about 60 mins away from Tokyo by train, and I pay about $350 USD for a 2DK (two bedroom) apartment. From my experience, Japan is extremely affordable to live in as long as you don't live inside Tokyo.
Personally, I didn't find Japan to be that expensive when I lived there. I worked as an English teacher so I wasn't rich, but I found it was easy to afford an apartment. Compared to cities in the US, rent is much more affordable in Japan. What I liked about Japan was that even if you weren't making a lot of money, you could still find an apartment to rent that was fairly cheap. It might be super small, but it was do-able. But in the US, there aren't a lot of cheap housing options. That's why so many people are having to stay with their parents longer.
That's one thing I believe the west should also consider doing in the big cities. Making small, yet livable apartments so young adults can rent at a relative fair price.
these rent to income ratios are way too good compared to america where you'll be spending minimum 50-100% of your salary in rent depending on area. House hacking is the only way to financially stay ahead of the game unless you have a 150k a year or higher salary in places like california and new york.
TBH, it's the same everywhere but it's worse when vloggers visit a "cheaper" country and convert the local prices to their own money, which is usually the stronger currency e.g. : "this burger costs (insert currency)$xx, which is usd$1.00" It sounds cheap but the average local salaries are not even that high to begin with. I think, nowhere is truly affordable to live in, especially when the ultra rich just tries to hoard even more wealth.
I honestly agree! As someone who lives in Southeast Asia, it's incredibly frustrating to see foreigners come to our countries and commenting about how cheap the prices are when it's actually pretty expensive for locals
100% this. People don't seem to understand postindustrial countries are all in a globalized economy, so even though there's obviously some regional variation in economics, the ratio of income to cost of living generally ends up being about the same -- i.e. getting worse. The only way to "hack" this is by living in a developing country while earning developed country wages -- preferably USD or GBP -- and/or buying up real estate in the developing country and AirBnB'ing to European and North American tourists. Of course, this is arguably just straight up exploitation of the global south but hey, how do you think postindustrial countries got to become postindustrial in the first place?
Well said. I can't stand it when people goes to another country to live in while earning a higher foreign currency salary remotely, and says that life is easier there.
Although this is focusing on living in Tokyo, if you live just outside of the edge of Tokyo Metropolitan area, the living costs do go down quite a bit and it only takes you about 30-60 minutes by train to go all around central Tokyo. My family of 4 lived in a 2 bedroom apartment just across the boundary in Kanagawa prefecture. The size was about 24m2 and rent was about 900USD, and it comes with a parking spot (some places doesn't include parking). for my salary at the time which was about $3,000 we lived fairly comfortably without being frugal.
How can a family of 4 live in 24 m2 ? That is the size of my studio in Paris 30 min away from the city centre. I used to pay 700 euros (770 dollars) per month. And this is considered small and expensive in Europe for only 1 person.
@@daniel3757cosal The Japanese just don't have the expectation of space in the same way as other places. My wife is Japanese and her family of 5 lived in a similar situation in a suburb far west of Tokyo and it was considered quite normal.
@@daniel3757cosal you're right. I was thinking of the top of my head and didn't realize how low i imagined. After some calculations its around 66 m2. Thanks for catching it
Even within Tokyo, the prices can greatly vary. One apartment's rent can triple depending on whether it's located in the Greater Tokyo area or in Central Tokyo.
They also only interviewed people that look to be in their early twenties so they are likely just getting started in their careers so they are earning less. If they interviewed older people the salaries would likely be higher. You also don't know what these people do for work which plays a big factor.
We have the same problem im France where Paris gets most of the work opportunities but also the highest living and rent costs… maybe the solution is to encourage businesses and especially big companies to move out of Tokyo.
Wow, as someone who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, I found this incredibly interesting. I had thought this was a problem unique to my area. My parents were able to buy a home here for 180,000 and it is now worth over $400,000 with little work done to improve the house. I feel younger millennials will never know home ownership unless we move further away from the city where the wages tend to be lower but the cost of living is also somewhat lowered. Inflation is truly hurting the world, we will never be the same again. Perhaps destined to rent forever.
Wow this was informative - 4 people in 75 sq. ft is insane however increase in wage taxes to 50% and many of the interviewees made less than 2k a month. Taxes, inflation, rents will keep marriage rates and child births down. US is not too far behind. Everyone seemed to like living in Tokyo despite the cost which says so much on overall satisfaction. Great segment
As someone who have lived in Paris, Rome and currently London, I find Tokyo very affordable. It's not expensive at all as compared to cities like London, New York.
Yeah, maybe as a single person without any obligations. The Western lifestyle is not the Japanese lifestyle. Japanese culture has a much greater emphasis on taking care of your family, especially parents in their elderly years. Young people often aren't just funding their own lives and needs. Plus, saving money in Japan to increase your overall wealth is extremely difficult with current banking practices, like the negative interest savings rate. So long term, no, it's not affordable at all.
He's not talking about affording your parents, but the cost of living. You don't need your parents to live technically. I also agree with him, as Tokyo is NO WHERE near as expensive as Zurich, Switzerland. It's not even near the most expensive places on earth.@@je9417
The very low salaries need to be taken into consideration. The gap between wage and cost of housing is big in big US cities, but even bigger in Tokyo it seems
It's really the small things. I remember when we could buy an onigiri, a burger or a big loaf of bread with ¥100. Not anymore :( With the yen being really low at the moment, salaries, housing etc may seem cheap when you put the price in USD, but really, Tokyo is expensive when you get paid in JPY.
Tokyo isn't that expensive anymore. Japan has had a recession continuously since the 90s. The prices more or less stagnated and the yen got weaker and weaker. Tokyo was super expensive back then, but nowadays it is very affordable. You can quite easily find a 1K apartment for about 60k yen. I also looked for houses last year and you can find quite good new houses for about 300k - 400k USD in areas like Minami Senju. Plus, financing a house is much more affordable than in Europe or the US, because of the low interest rate in the country. The problem is that people nowadays don't earn very well in Japan anymore.
@@ricka4678 Of course it does. But that is true anywhere in the world. Plus, Tokyo has an excellent public transport system, so basically anywhere close to a train station is fine, as long as you are within the 23 wards.
Yeah it's a globalized economy and everything just adjusts for local inflation. Americans gasp at how much cheaper food and housing sounds in other developed countries and don't realize how much less you make on average there. Europeans and Japanese gasp at how much more money you can make in the US (like, it's truly ridiculous) and don't realize they won't get much of a leg up because of the much higher living costs.
I wouldn’t buy a house in a former execution ground no matter how cheap… real estate in Aoyama, Azabu, Akasaka is comparable to other major cities in the west.
I'm living in Tokyo and this video does not represent the average citizen. Average salary for a new graduate is around 200k per month, while you can easily find a 20m2 room in pretty central Tokyo for less than 80k. What's more, many companies provide housing subsidies or company housing to new graduates, which means they pay almost nothing for rent. I think that even as a new graduate, you have the opportunity to save some money and live a comfortable life (without luxuries though). Now moving to the average, the average salary in Tokyo is around 6mil, which is 500k per month. You can find plenty of "spacious" and well-located housing options with 1-2 rooms for around 25-35% of that salary. If you have a partner that also works, then that percentage can basically ve halved and you can live even more comfortably
That was fascinating and really enjoyed listen to the guy from Yokohama and the guy with Glasses was interesting too. I see the cost of living also affecting people in Japan, as much as it's affecting us in Australia especially on the east coast.
I have lived in Tokyo for 10 years, and it’s simply not true that it is expensive. London, Geneva, or other cities in the world are WAAAAY more expensive. Tokyo is actually quite cheap.
@@rowbearly6128easily half of what someone in the West makes for the same job. 800 yen seems to be the minimum wage there, in Canada with the current exchange rates, easily DOUBLED ($15CDN, with an almost 1:1 exchange rate now ex. 1500 yen per hour). Yet everything in Japan food/restaurant wise is half what I pay in Canada. People just don't seem to understand simple economics even my dumb ass can figure out. Things in Japan appear "cheap" because they're priced for Japanese salaries, which is a lot lower than anywhere in the G7 and with the weak yen, it hits them even harder on a global market. Tokyo is definitely not cheap for the local even if they made 300000yen/month (around 3000 bucks give or take), which seems to be a good salary. In US/Canada, you can easily make double that. I live in Toronto, making $100k for the average "worker" is nothing to brag about considering the prices of things here, of course everything is cheap in Japan in comparison. Japanese person making $100k USD a year in Japan is definitely not a worker or "salaryman". Take your money to India, it'll go even further, its why western companies love to send all the jobs there, they're paying a fraction for almost the same talents.
I visited Japan as a tourist and was so shocked how everyone dressed so well. I imagine their outfits are like $200 USD, but if the average monthly is less than $2000 USD, how are they affording this?? I visited uniqlo, and the prices there are similar to the USA prices. I make above average but I spend less than $200 a year on clothes. It's a culture shock for me!
Some make more than 2k a month, and the other reason is some people live with their parents or already have a home or apartment that was passed to them by their parents, That is why their disposable income is high, also their savings rate is higher than the US savings rate, also the average household in Japan has about 130,000 USD in savings
Just moved here with my wife. Spent 5 months here prior and previously lived in Canada, UK, Philippines and UAE. Japan is very affordable as long as you don't live an ultra luxury lifestyle. Rents vary wildly by area, but even buying a home here is cheap. I can buy a 4 bed house in the the countryside for $200'000 USD. That would only be the down-payment on a smaller house in Toronto or London. Food is cheaper here than it was in the Philippines 😂
It's all relative, if I as a foreigner making an American salary went to Japan I'd also find it cheap to live there. The difficulty comes into play when you're talking about the price in relation to local people's stagnant wages... The average salary over there is literally worse than minimum wage in some states over here, and comparing prices/wages across currencies is not really reflective of how much spending power the average local has
japan is kinda socialist country.. because almost every person has kinda similar range salary. unless you are doctor. in japan salary for engineer doesnt have a large gap with non-engineer . but, japan wasnt a country that can make people rich no matter how hard you work.
Yea I when I visited I was shocked how cheap it was, and food is waaay to cheap, and I live in Mexico which is pretty cheap as well compared with other countries lol
Even tho tokyo is more expensive than the rest of japan, I think it is quite affordable when you compare to the West like Switzerland, UK, Skandinavia, Canada, US, Australia
This is in a way oversimplifying but this is my personal feel and tip for things here for those who's never lived in Tokyo. When you hear the word "apartment" or "hamburger" at a cheap price, imagine it being half the size that you originally imagined and you will get the gist of this video.
@@dynadwynn Where are you from? It might just be an American thing lol I don't know what burgers are like in other countries, but the burgers I had in Japan were smaller than all but the cheapest fast food value menu burgers lol Also something nobody talks about: the bun to meat ratio is different, too. Imagine a normal mcdonalds cheeseburger, but make just the patty like 30% smaller and that's a Japanese burger. At least that was my experience at MOS Burger lol Like you get your order and it's like "Oh this isn't so tiny" and then you bite into it and you're like "wait it's empty" lmao MOS Burger still the jp GOAT in terms of quality, though, just go in with the right expectations is all I'm saying
food is cheap in Tokyo, just stop eating western food. I had many Tonkatsu or Karage meals for less than 1000 yen (what is that 8USD?) Why would anyone want to eat hamburgers? Housing is the most expensive imo, second is Shinkansen tickets. Eating western food in Japan is for suckers.
I was in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Okinawa four months ago, and eating out in restaurants in Japan was 30-40% cheaper than in California. About four months ago, the exchange rate was $10 usd to $1,320 yen. Taxi in Kyoto and Osaka was cheap. Each short ride about 2-3 miles for me was an average of $900 yen. Taxi in Tokyo was about 3x more expensive than Kyoto and Osaka, but taxi in Tokyo was still cheaper or about the same amount as Las Vegas. Hotel in Japan was about the same amount as the price in Las Vegas.
Again compare using local salary. Everything seems cheap when you earn dollars but when you earn the local average income then it wouldn't be as cheap as you would think it would be.
Well, visiting Tokyo with a U.S salary is a whole different story than living there with a Japanese salary. Of course it will be cheap if the exchange rate is good. Btw, you don’t need a $ sign before posting yen amounts as $ means dollars. Being picky I know!
@@R.Williams This video is about how expensive is it to live in Tokyo. Based on my experience, Tokyo is not as expensive as Los Angeles. There are many comments from people stating that Tokyo is not as expensive as their home countries. By the way, if you want to sound and act smart, then at least write in standard English.
Asian Boss should do this in Shanghai where people’s wages are rising and money these office worker made in Tokyo would be peanuts.. I’m hiring a new grad and they demand at least 10k RMB for a much much cheaper city (except property buying).
The average wage in Tokyo is higher than that. I have been looking at vacancies and studying them. Tokyo is not expensive to live as a local resident, it is only expensive as a tourist. If you compare to places like Singapore, Singapore is really more expensive and everything is double with locals salaries beomg squeezed (dont count expats because they get privelleged treatment) I saved more money staying in Japan compared to Singapore. Lot of necessities in Japan like food, drinks, clothes, toiletries etc are very affordable. Whatever I cannot afford in Singapore, I buy back from Japan.
In Tokyo most people earn around 1800-2500$ per month, and they are able to live a comfortable life and save quite a lot actually...their average rent is around 400-600$ per month and if you live in a relatively big house in central Tokyo maybe 800$-1000$
The center inner wards of tokyo are extremely expensive and paying over 1 million $ for a family apartment isnt overly expensive. That being said, already towards the harbor and outer wards or adjacent prefectures like China you can already buy small houses for 400-500k$
Just remember though, Japan is larger than Italy, Tokyo does not equal Japan just like Rome does not equal the whole Italy. There are plenty of places in Japan with space and affordable living with nature and scenery
I’m so tired of Tokyo being called one of the most expensive cities in the world. It is clearly not. A rundown old studio apartment in an average U.S. city is $1k+ minimum. In Tokyo it’s half that and it’s the freaking capitol city. In a major US city like NYC or LA you may as well add another zero.
lol that's because Tokyo is bigger than NYC and LA combined. Certain parts of Tokyo are on level with Manhattan prices ie: Ginza, but Tokyo is just way bigger so there are cheaper places to live.
I think you have to consider the income they’re making. $1,800~2,100 isn’t that much and income taxes are deducted from it. These people are paying $450 to rent a small box apartment and are shared. There’s also expenses such as transportation which I would estimate is around $200 min. per month then you have water bills, electricity, phone bills, internet, food and you’re really left with not much.
@@ZergcerebratesNot really. Even after the expenses you’re left with more buying power due to the low price of food and other services. Meals can be had for $4, US you need to spend $20 min to eat decent meals out. Basic groceries can be had for less than 20$, a grocery trip cost me at least $100 in 2022 in the US for 1 week of food. Actually, the cost of living in the U.S. even with lower taxes is much much higher, because you don’t have things like subsidized healthcare, quality public transport, etc. everyone pays for those things out of pocket, and they add up to be enough to eat away at any salary difference. You need at least $140,000 to live a decent lifestyle in a place like NYC or LA, and that’s without kids or a spouse. You only need 50-60,000$ in Tokyo. That’s not unobtainable.
The obsession with Tokyo is a big factor. The greater Tokyo area (includes some of neighbouring prefectures ) has more people than Canada. If some companies could be encouraged to move out of the capital, their workers could have better quality of life. Also, these last few years have shown us many office jobs could be done remotely. People could live up to 2 or 300 kilometres away from the office if theh only had to pop in a max of once a month.
I lived in chiba pref, about 35 mins from Tokyo by train. I rented a large 5 bedroom house, really big, for 100000 a month. Plenty of big places if you just get outside the yamanote line
The interviewees really skewed young in this piece. Mostly 20-somethings either living with their parents or very recently moved out, and at the very low end of their lifetime earning potential. I don't think this is so representative of general Tokyo living conditions as it is of living conditions for a narrow age range of poor students and recent graduates.
Been to Japan quite a few times, both rent and purchase price seemed a lot cheaper than in most other countries, compared to local incomes. The Japanese have no idea how lucky they are. In most Japanese cities except Tokyo a small apartment can be bought for about 5-6m yen, maybe not very central but still within public transport. That's usually less than 5 yearly local salaries. I.e. a family of two working people can be mortgage free in 5 years. Not to mention smaller towns where they wouldn't even need a mortgage. Most other developed countries have price to income ratio of about 10-15 times. Some major cities are 20-40 times local salary: Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney , Vancouver for instance. There are complete outliers like Taipei and Seoul with outrageous 40-50 price/income ratio. Consumer goods, same thing - just came back from a Sapporo trip, where I stopped by Aeon Mall - fir the same quality items were much cheaper than in Singapore and Taipei. The Japanese have no idea how lucky they are, to live in clean, safe, affordable country ))
I live 60 mins away from tokyo. I cant imagine paying 1/2 of your monthly income just for rent when I am only paying around $400 for a 2bedroom apartment.
I came from Zurich, Switzerland and been living here in Tokyo for almost 8 years. And I can tell you that Tokyo ( and Japan ) is NOT expensive at all. It's much more affordable than my own hometown !
Try living in Toronto, where we pay $2400 (1770 USD / 257,600 JPY) a month for a one bedroom :) I lived in a small city in Japan, and you could get a great one bedroom with everything included for $400 (295 USD / 42,900 JPY). I always told my friends that if you have a North American salary and lived in Japan, you'd be living like a king since their cost of living and food is so low (since their salaries are lower). My friends in Japan were shocked that I could make 100,000 out of school (compared to their 30,000 for the same job), but everything in Canada is more expensive to make up for it.
@grapesurgeon fr dude I live in Seattle too and 1400 and below is considered low income and most apartments that aren't a shoebox are like 2000 easily
You speaking of rent but your grocery bill is what really matters - there is no way you can get the same fresh foods in Japan cheaper than in the USA. Something tells me the people who talking about how "cheap" Japan is never really lived there and just visit - try shopping for good food in Japan that is non-processed and non-packaged with high amount of salt and sugar - I'll wait
@@eddunn3021a dozen eggs in a small town in USA is like $7 USD and you can’t get meat for under $10. A week worth of groceries for 1 person is over $100 easily not to mention that you have to drive to the grocery store which adds at least $500 a month for a car payment and then $3.60 gas if you’re living in a cheap area. Cost of living is significantly higher in US
as former Korean, when I visit Japan in 2002, I felt that Japan was super expensive compared to Korea, and for past five years, I heard that lots of Korean go Japan instead of domestic traveling because traveling Japan is cheaper. I visited Tokyo last year and I feel that the prices are super cheap because the price was almost same as 20 years ago. it was very weird feeling ever
i keep hearing about population decline in japan, it seems that would affect the scarcity of things like room and board. so im surprised its still this expensive there
population decline is more people dying thatn being born because young Japanese are not having families due to financial constraints that is being expressed in the video
@@pigeonlove what's love hotels for then? People can't not want sex unless they're asexual which is rare, sex is a hormonal need. It's children that are expensive to raise.
Talking about prices and rents is pretty much useless, if you don't consider the local pay. If your pay is 100 and you spend 60 for rent, 30 for bills, 9 for food.. at the end of the day you have spent the 99% of your pay. If your pay in another country with a higher cost of living is 1000 and you spend 600 for rent, 300 for bills and 90 for foor, you are still left with the 1% of your pay at the end of the month. The only difference is that your 1% left has a higher purchase power in some other countries abroad..otherwise if you don't travel, the situation is the same
Was just in Tokyo and the prices have not changed much in 16 years it’s so cheap now but I guess if you live there it could be worth expensive as wages have not gone up too
Tokyo used to be very expensive in the 90s, nowadays I would say it's among the most affordable big cities in the world. And I'm taking into account their purchasing power...even earning around 1800-2000$ per month you can live by perfectly fine and even save quite a bit... that's definitely not the case in cities like London, NY, Paris, etc.
Here in San Diego, my 2 bedroom apartment is $4200 per month. I spend $80 to fill up my toyota highlander. A big Mac is $8. My electric bill alone is $250. A bowl of udon cost $15. So i think is fair to say that the USA is far more expensive to live now than Japan, Korea, Singapore.....
@@livinghoomanbean4803 Live an hour from the center and you'll be paying just a few hundred a month, and your neighborhood will still be guaranteed to be crime free and nice, and youll find plenty of places to eat for cheap. Live an hour or more from the center of manhattan and you will regret ever moving here. In nyc, you pay a premium to live in a less crime ridden neighborhood, and with places you can actually eat and buy food at. Even if you can find a "cheaper" place for $1200/mo you'd never want to live there. And costs in nyc never stop going up. I've seen the cost of meals go up a factor of 30% within less than 6 months in some restaurants. Within a year or two, prices can go up 50% in nearly every restaurant. Rents are skyrocketing in the same direction. There is no place more expensive to live in the world.
I lived there for +1.5 years. Wages are a fraction of Australian wages and groceries are more expensive and smaller than in Australia. Eating out is cheaper but you can't eat out everyday.
maybe they need to come and check on Sydney, Australia. We have higher wages no doubt (like 500 extra) but those renting price they mentioned is only for a week rent.
Rent in Sydney is one of the highest in the world. People in Sydney can't afford to own property near the CBD unless they're wealthy. Most live +45 min away.
I thought the rental is not high compared to the price to purchase an apartment. USD700K to purchase but USD750 to get a room or small studio is not too expensive. In Singapore now the price for a bedroom is around USD700 too and the worse thing is we don't really have a rural area option. But to balance things, we do have cheap food options while food in Tokyo is generally more expensive.
I thought that was weird, the guy mentioned 700k to buy an apartment, which is similar with my city (Vancouver BC), but the rent in Tokyo seems so CHEAP compared to my city where the average 1bedroom apartment is roughly $2900 CAD/$2150 USD to rent per month.
@@Duran762 one of the interviewees said $650, another said a combined $840 and the last said $450 for 1 room apartment, did you even watch the video. zzz
@abtcup Did you take into consideration of the sizes and their salary too? That 1 bedroom you speak of could be 4x the size of Japanese sized 1 bedrooms. And Their average salary is about $25k, whats average California salary? More than double that! So how is that a bargain?
Just a recommendation highly recommend giving an idea of the age group of the people you’re interviewing. We know they are young off of assumption but it doesn’t show the age demographic.
Didn't know salaries in Tokyo were that low. Was there on vacation recently and while things were generally cheaper than what I get in my country, I could not imagine living there on their salaries.
Although the people interviewed were not regular company workers and not representative of the whole population, I definitely see an erosion of the middle class here. Rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. Fewer Japanese go overseas for a holiday now due to the weak yen and tightening of purse strings. That said, in my opinion JP is one of the safest places in the world to live and has the best healthcare. I'd prefer to have those 2 things over getting a higher wage.
I think people also forget that prior to the pandemic, 100 yen used to be almost about a dollar, but since then, the value of the yen has decreased due to various factors.
Don't stay in Tokyo and refrain from eating out every day. You'll see your expenses go down. I'm living in Japan comfortably in Yokohama area. I spend around 150k yen a month on all my expenses including my hobbies and eating out once/twice a week.
Cost of living is relative. It all depends on salaries, cost of goods, utilities, housing, etc. Here in San Diego California, the average 1 bedroom rents for $2,500, even 500sqft studios go for that price. We were recently rated more expensive than New York City. Minimum wage I believe is $17.50 which clearly won't make enough to rent an apartment. The average cost of a meal is about $11 unless you eat terrible fast food. Gas and electric are the highest in the US. If I lived in Tokyo making my same salary, I would be able to live much more comfortable.
I does seem expensive but I live in California USA and it is very expensive. Coming to japan this sept so excited to see the country. The third guys she interviewed making $2100 was so handsome and friendly. I am surprised people are willing to say how much they make on this. I would never do that
I go to Tokyo frequently. While it can be expensive, normal life is quite inexpensive. Notice that people in Tokyo are earning peanuts compared to normal salaries in California. Restaurants are less than half of what I'm used to in San Francisco. A nice breakfast in Tokyo is $5. Lunch might be $12. Compared to California, for a comparable meal, Tokyo is a bargain. I stay at hotels, which are usually a bargain. With the USD so valuable vs the yen, the hotels are a super bargain. Somehow, Japan seems to have avoided the massive inflation that we've experienced in California. Prices are up a little in Japan, but not like the USA. Even if you discount the USD's rise vs the yen, Japan is still a serious bargain. There are certain things in Japan that can be expensive including the bullet train, hotels during Japanese vacation times and road tolls. Rental cars are sometimes very expensive as well, depending on availability. Hopefully you can live without a large variety of the produce that you might be used to, as some fruits and veggies can be outrageously expensive. It is best to buy food that the locals enjoy in order to avoid $8 apples... Go have fun in Japan while the USD is so strong.
Nah higher salary doesn't increase inflation like that. It's not a direct correlation. The United States federal reserve has been increasing interest rates non stop for over a year and salary has actually increased while inflation hasn't. Whoever sets prices aka businesses mostly dictate inflation.
More money means more tax and more money to import goods. Since Japan is not quite self-sufficient, they will lose the power to buy goods once they don't make more money than the rest of the world. Ah, I do agree that inflation and wage rising are not correlated. Since in Japan the inflation is higher than the average wage rising for 15 months.
While i won't be comparing between one country to another as the cost of living is different. If you are comparing Tokyo with place of low cost living in US, then Tokyo is expensive. But if compare with NYC and LA, then we need to compare with the ratios of cost of living/house expense/etc. Japan wage havent changed for so long, but living expense increase.
Man even if it's expensive, I HAVE to visit Japan... Also to do some street-interviews for my channel. So far I have only made videos from Brazil and Argentina
For 700k usd in tokyo you can absolutely purchase a mansion or an ikkodate thats at least like 60-70 square meters or more, potentially going closer to 100 square meters or more depending in a variety of factors such as locafion, age of building, vicinity to a station, etc
LOL - 700k can get you something nice in any country in this world - you forgetting the 30-year rule in Japan/Tokyo while a 700k home in the USA can last more than 200 years.
My city (Perth, WA) is currently experiencing a rental crisis where a semi-janky 2 bedroom apartment, 15 mins drive from the city, costs $650AUD (400USD) a week. And food is so expensive that two major supermarket chains are currently being investigated for price gouging. My generation (Z)will be the first to have a WORSE quality of living than the generation before them in decades.
Tokyo is really cheap if you compare with LA, NYC, Toronto, Montreal, Singapore. And if you can speak Japanese, you can find great opportunities. (Something between 600000 to 700000¥ after tax per month)
just my personal thoughts, I saw most of the peps in the comments are either from Europe or America ( Western countries) and how they find it cheap to live in Tokyo, or that it’s not expensive….but as someone from Asia, I think Tokyo is quite pricey. Idk if its because Western countries have bigger currencies and stuff, that’s why they find it cheaper, but as someone from Asia who’s currency is almost equivalent to the Japanese currency…. Tokyo is pricey. Like recently when I searched for normal stuff like clothes, bags, umbrellas,etc. All cost more than where i’m from (double or triple the price). Other things like taxis prices are so crazy ,they can cost up to 8.800~9.800yen for 24km, like for the same distance it cost app. 1.500yen for where i’m from.
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As a Japanese, I recently came across a news report that gave me pause. Costco, operating in Japan, has been hiring part-time workers at a wage of 1,500 JPY ($10) per hour. This move has drawn criticism from local Japanese supermarkets which typically offer around $6 per hour. These businesses are concerned that Costco's high wages will attract their workforce away.
Observing this situation, I couldn't help but feel a sense of despair for the future of my country.
The markets cannot both keep increasing their prices and expect workers to stay for the same wage. Both have to increase, or the workers will find a job that lets them pay for food… ie Costco.
But that Costco's salary will go back into Japanese economy. I think that's win win
Costco is a great company, Japan needs to raise their wages
Did you know Costco wages in my area of living In the states start from $20 an hour?
Yes, your country is being exploited by the West due to the yen/USD gap such as Warren Buffet and Black Rock who are buying up Japanese homes to rent out as they doing in the USA - the low-frequency Japanophiles here do not know such details because because they don't read global financial news.
At first you’re like, wow that’s actually pretty cheap. Then you find out it’s literally a closet. 😂
I'm pretty sure I've had closets that were bigger - and I didn't have to share a bunk bed on top.
Exactly. It's probably better if we could have a cost per square meter for comparison.
And that their salaries are lower compared to the US.
better than spending 90% of your salary to get a not much bigger walk in closet in america.
that's still extremely cheap compared to major U.S. cities. a couple years ago, i was living in an 80 square foot apartment in venice beach for $1000/mo with a shared bathroom among the entire floor of about 16 units & just a sink in the room. it's up to $1800 now, i think. hell, even in bigger cities in middle of nowhere states, i was paying $1800 for a 600 square foot studio - in mississippi, until recently. i guess it depends on where you folks are living, but e.g. one of my best friends is living in San Diego in a 2bdr with 4 roommates for $3700. when i first moved to los angeles (santa monica) in 2008, i was paying $600 to share a bedroom in a 3 bedroom condo - i had 7 roommates then. just the fact this is *tokyo* the idea of spending less than $1500/month for ANY room is astounding to me.
I live about 60 mins away from Tokyo by train, and I pay about $350 USD for a 2DK (two bedroom) apartment. From my experience, Japan is extremely affordable to live in as long as you don't live inside Tokyo.
Good excuse to buy a Switch or kindle to pass the time
Agree with you. I lived in Chiba but working at Shibuya.
Personally, I didn't find Japan to be that expensive when I lived there. I worked as an English teacher so I wasn't rich, but I found it was easy to afford an apartment. Compared to cities in the US, rent is much more affordable in Japan. What I liked about Japan was that even if you weren't making a lot of money, you could still find an apartment to rent that was fairly cheap. It might be super small, but it was do-able. But in the US, there aren't a lot of cheap housing options. That's why so many people are having to stay with their parents longer.
That's one thing I believe the west should also consider doing in the big cities. Making small, yet livable apartments so young adults can rent at a relative fair price.
@@eiennofantasy yes, also a bunch of supply and restriction of rental/investment property is needed
Just say that u are a weeb🙄
these rent to income ratios are way too good compared to america where you'll be spending minimum 50-100% of your salary in rent depending on area. House hacking is the only way to financially stay ahead of the game unless you have a 150k a year or higher salary in places like california and new york.
@@eiennofantasy if only more of those kinda places would pop up. The housing crisis is ridiculous in North America and 100% fueled by greed.
8:50 Homegirl really said "Whatever happened to the McDonald's dollar menu?" My American heart felt that one deep.
TBH, it's the same everywhere but it's worse when vloggers visit a "cheaper" country and convert the local prices to their own money, which is usually the stronger currency e.g. : "this burger costs (insert currency)$xx, which is usd$1.00"
It sounds cheap but the average local salaries are not even that high to begin with.
I think, nowhere is truly affordable to live in, especially when the ultra rich just tries to hoard even more wealth.
I honestly agree! As someone who lives in Southeast Asia, it's incredibly frustrating to see foreigners come to our countries and commenting about how cheap the prices are when it's actually pretty expensive for locals
100% this. People don't seem to understand postindustrial countries are all in a globalized economy, so even though there's obviously some regional variation in economics, the ratio of income to cost of living generally ends up being about the same -- i.e. getting worse. The only way to "hack" this is by living in a developing country while earning developed country wages -- preferably USD or GBP -- and/or buying up real estate in the developing country and AirBnB'ing to European and North American tourists. Of course, this is arguably just straight up exploitation of the global south but hey, how do you think postindustrial countries got to become postindustrial in the first place?
Well said. I can't stand it when people goes to another country to live in while earning a higher foreign currency salary remotely, and says that life is easier there.
Although this is focusing on living in Tokyo, if you live just outside of the edge of Tokyo Metropolitan area, the living costs do go down quite a bit and it only takes you about 30-60 minutes by train to go all around central Tokyo. My family of 4 lived in a 2 bedroom apartment just across the boundary in Kanagawa prefecture. The size was about 24m2 and rent was about 900USD, and it comes with a parking spot (some places doesn't include parking). for my salary at the time which was about $3,000 we lived fairly comfortably without being frugal.
How can a family of 4 live in 24 m2 ?
That is the size of my studio in Paris 30 min away from the city centre. I used to pay 700 euros (770 dollars) per month. And this is considered small and expensive in Europe for only 1 person.
@@daniel3757cosal you can look up the the apartment structure. Some maximized space with bunk bed and closet
@@daniel3757cosalthat's easy when op is a weeb🤡
@@daniel3757cosal The Japanese just don't have the expectation of space in the same way as other places. My wife is Japanese and her family of 5 lived in a similar situation in a suburb far west of Tokyo and it was considered quite normal.
@@daniel3757cosal you're right. I was thinking of the top of my head and didn't realize how low i imagined. After some calculations its around 66 m2. Thanks for catching it
This is not "How Expensive is Living in Japan?" but "How Expensive is Living in Tokyo?"
Tokyo and the rest of Japan's cities are completely different.
Exactly. Very misleading video title.
Looks like they changed the title
Even within Tokyo, the prices can greatly vary. One apartment's rent can triple depending on whether it's located in the Greater Tokyo area or in Central Tokyo.
@@TheRealityofFake Nice. Props to them
They also only interviewed people that look to be in their early twenties so they are likely just getting started in their careers so they are earning less. If they interviewed older people the salaries would likely be higher. You also don't know what these people do for work which plays a big factor.
We have the same problem im France where Paris gets most of the work opportunities but also the highest living and rent costs… maybe the solution is to encourage businesses and especially big companies to move out of Tokyo.
Wow, as someone who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, I found this incredibly interesting. I had thought this was a problem unique to my area. My parents were able to buy a home here for 180,000 and it is now worth over $400,000 with little work done to improve the house. I feel younger millennials will never know home ownership unless we move further away from the city where the wages tend to be lower but the cost of living is also somewhat lowered. Inflation is truly hurting the world, we will never be the same again. Perhaps destined to rent forever.
Wow this was informative - 4 people in 75 sq. ft is insane however increase in wage taxes to 50% and many of the interviewees made less than 2k a month. Taxes, inflation, rents will keep marriage rates and child births down. US is not too far behind. Everyone seemed to like living in Tokyo despite the cost which says so much on overall satisfaction. Great segment
As someone who have lived in Paris, Rome and currently London, I find Tokyo very affordable. It's not expensive at all as compared to cities like London, New York.
Yeah, maybe as a single person without any obligations. The Western lifestyle is not the Japanese lifestyle. Japanese culture has a much greater emphasis on taking care of your family, especially parents in their elderly years. Young people often aren't just funding their own lives and needs. Plus, saving money in Japan to increase your overall wealth is extremely difficult with current banking practices, like the negative interest savings rate. So long term, no, it's not affordable at all.
He's not talking about affording your parents, but the cost of living. You don't need your parents to live technically. I also agree with him, as Tokyo is NO WHERE near as expensive as Zurich, Switzerland. It's not even near the most expensive places on earth.@@je9417
@je9417 i live in tokyo and neither do i, my coworkers, or my uni friends fun their family except buying souvenirs when returning home
@@KanemiX3this! Agree! That's also what I heard as well. I think Tokyo is expensive for the average salary that people make here.
The very low salaries need to be taken into consideration. The gap between wage and cost of housing is big in big US cities, but even bigger in Tokyo it seems
It's really the small things. I remember when we could buy an onigiri, a burger or a big loaf of bread with ¥100. Not anymore :(
With the yen being really low at the moment, salaries, housing etc may seem cheap when you put the price in USD, but really, Tokyo is expensive when you get paid in JPY.
Tokyo isn't that expensive anymore. Japan has had a recession continuously since the 90s. The prices more or less stagnated and the yen got weaker and weaker. Tokyo was super expensive back then, but nowadays it is very affordable. You can quite easily find a 1K apartment for about 60k yen. I also looked for houses last year and you can find quite good new houses for about 300k - 400k USD in areas like Minami Senju. Plus, financing a house is much more affordable than in Europe or the US, because of the low interest rate in the country.
The problem is that people nowadays don't earn very well in Japan anymore.
Price really depends on the location within Tokyo
@@ricka4678 Of course it does. But that is true anywhere in the world. Plus, Tokyo has an excellent public transport system, so basically anywhere close to a train station is fine, as long as you are within the 23 wards.
Yeah it's a globalized economy and everything just adjusts for local inflation. Americans gasp at how much cheaper food and housing sounds in other developed countries and don't realize how much less you make on average there. Europeans and Japanese gasp at how much more money you can make in the US (like, it's truly ridiculous) and don't realize they won't get much of a leg up because of the much higher living costs.
I wouldn’t buy a house in a former execution ground no matter how cheap… real estate in Aoyama, Azabu, Akasaka is comparable to other major cities in the west.
@@moderateatberkeley why does it matter what a place was 200 years ago? Also, not all of Minami senju was an execution ground..
I'm living in Tokyo and this video does not represent the average citizen. Average salary for a new graduate is around 200k per month, while you can easily find a 20m2 room in pretty central Tokyo for less than 80k. What's more, many companies provide housing subsidies or company housing to new graduates, which means they pay almost nothing for rent. I think that even as a new graduate, you have the opportunity to save some money and live a comfortable life (without luxuries though).
Now moving to the average, the average salary in Tokyo is around 6mil, which is 500k per month. You can find plenty of "spacious" and well-located housing options with 1-2 rooms for around 25-35% of that salary. If you have a partner that also works, then that percentage can basically ve halved and you can live even more comfortably
Also, most companies subsidize for the transit as well.
That was fascinating and really enjoyed listen to the guy from Yokohama and the guy with Glasses was interesting too. I see the cost of living also affecting people in Japan, as much as it's affecting us in Australia especially on the east coast.
I have lived in Tokyo for 10 years, and it’s simply not true that it is expensive. London, Geneva, or other cities in the world are WAAAAY more expensive. Tokyo is actually quite cheap.
SSSSHHHH!
You are a foreigner whose salary is not in Yen or probably not in the same league as their regular salary. 🤷🏻♂️
@@drisshansfreetime453 Probably less.
@@rowbearly6128easily half of what someone in the West makes for the same job. 800 yen seems to be the minimum wage there, in Canada with the current exchange rates, easily DOUBLED ($15CDN, with an almost 1:1 exchange rate now ex. 1500 yen per hour). Yet everything in Japan food/restaurant wise is half what I pay in Canada. People just don't seem to understand simple economics even my dumb ass can figure out. Things in Japan appear "cheap" because they're priced for Japanese salaries, which is a lot lower than anywhere in the G7 and with the weak yen, it hits them even harder on a global market. Tokyo is definitely not cheap for the local even if they made 300000yen/month (around 3000 bucks give or take), which seems to be a good salary. In US/Canada, you can easily make double that. I live in Toronto, making $100k for the average "worker" is nothing to brag about considering the prices of things here, of course everything is cheap in Japan in comparison. Japanese person making $100k USD a year in Japan is definitely not a worker or "salaryman". Take your money to India, it'll go even further, its why western companies love to send all the jobs there, they're paying a fraction for almost the same talents.
How much was your salary? Let’s start from there.
I visited Japan as a tourist and was so shocked how everyone dressed so well. I imagine their outfits are like $200 USD, but if the average monthly is less than $2000 USD, how are they affording this?? I visited uniqlo, and the prices there are similar to the USA prices. I make above average but I spend less than $200 a year on clothes. It's a culture shock for me!
And you are from what country?
@@23zchris USA. I wear old T-shirts and leggings everywhere.
thrift or second-hand shops - shop off season for deals too.
we go to GU , it's much cheaper
Some make more than 2k a month, and the other reason is some people live with their parents or already have a home or apartment that was passed to them by their parents, That is why their disposable income is high, also their savings rate is higher than the US savings rate, also the average household in Japan has about 130,000 USD in savings
Last guy's closing statement really hit us with the wisdom of ten thousand years.
Just moved here with my wife. Spent 5 months here prior and previously lived in Canada, UK, Philippines and UAE. Japan is very affordable as long as you don't live an ultra luxury lifestyle. Rents vary wildly by area, but even buying a home here is cheap. I can buy a 4 bed house in the the countryside for $200'000 USD. That would only be the down-payment on a smaller house in Toronto or London. Food is cheaper here than it was in the Philippines 😂
It's all relative, if I as a foreigner making an American salary went to Japan I'd also find it cheap to live there. The difficulty comes into play when you're talking about the price in relation to local people's stagnant wages... The average salary over there is literally worse than minimum wage in some states over here, and comparing prices/wages across currencies is not really reflective of how much spending power the average local has
japan is kinda socialist country.. because almost every person has kinda similar range salary. unless you are doctor.
in japan salary for engineer doesnt have a large gap with non-engineer .
but, japan wasnt a country that can make people rich no matter how hard you work.
Yea I when I visited I was shocked how cheap it was, and food is waaay to cheap, and I live in Mexico which is pretty cheap as well compared with other countries lol
Isn't that also the price for a countryside in the UK?
@@VinVin21969
No, in Japan, you can make the most money working in the financial industry. And the mass media pays pretty well.
Even tho tokyo is more expensive than the rest of japan, I think it is quite affordable when you compare to the West like Switzerland, UK, Skandinavia, Canada, US, Australia
Salaries in Japan is far less than the countries tht u mentioned, so yeah
Soo surprised how low both salary and rent is in Japan.😢
This is in a way oversimplifying but this is my personal feel and tip for things here for those who's never lived in Tokyo. When you hear the word "apartment" or "hamburger" at a cheap price, imagine it being half the size that you originally imagined and you will get the gist of this video.
The only comment I've seen with something worthwhile to add lmao
I didn't find hamburgers were any smaller than the ones I usually have back at home though....
@@dynadwynn Where are you from? It might just be an American thing lol I don't know what burgers are like in other countries, but the burgers I had in Japan were smaller than all but the cheapest fast food value menu burgers lol
Also something nobody talks about: the bun to meat ratio is different, too. Imagine a normal mcdonalds cheeseburger, but make just the patty like 30% smaller and that's a Japanese burger. At least that was my experience at MOS Burger lol Like you get your order and it's like "Oh this isn't so tiny" and then you bite into it and you're like "wait it's empty" lmao
MOS Burger still the jp GOAT in terms of quality, though, just go in with the right expectations is all I'm saying
food is cheap in Tokyo, just stop eating western food. I had many Tonkatsu or Karage meals for less than 1000 yen (what is that 8USD?) Why would anyone want to eat hamburgers? Housing is the most expensive imo, second is Shinkansen tickets. Eating western food in Japan is for suckers.
@@PWCDNObviously I'm talking from a local's standpoint.
These interviews are so insightful
I was in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Okinawa four months ago, and eating out in restaurants in Japan was 30-40% cheaper than in California. About four months ago, the exchange rate was $10 usd to $1,320 yen. Taxi in Kyoto and Osaka was cheap. Each short ride about 2-3 miles for me was an average of $900 yen. Taxi in Tokyo was about 3x more expensive than Kyoto and Osaka, but taxi in Tokyo was still cheaper or about the same amount as Las Vegas. Hotel in Japan was about the same amount as the price in Las Vegas.
We are ALL phucked cos of government money printing - inflation is the invisible tax that kills most but the super rich
Again compare using local salary. Everything seems cheap when you earn dollars but when you earn the local average income then it wouldn't be as cheap as you would think it would be.
Well, visiting Tokyo with a U.S salary is a whole different story than living there with a Japanese salary. Of course it will be cheap if the exchange rate is good. Btw, you don’t need a $ sign before posting yen amounts as $ means dollars. Being picky I know!
try using this symbol when talking about yen ¥
@@R.Williams This video is about how expensive is it to live in Tokyo. Based on my experience, Tokyo is not as expensive as Los Angeles. There are many comments from people stating that Tokyo is not as expensive as their home countries. By the way, if you want to sound and act smart, then at least write in standard English.
Asian Boss should do this in Shanghai where people’s wages are rising and money these office worker made in Tokyo would be peanuts.. I’m hiring a new grad and they demand at least 10k RMB for a much much cheaper city (except property buying).
The average wage in Tokyo is higher than that. I have been looking at vacancies and studying them. Tokyo is not expensive to live as a local resident, it is only expensive as a tourist. If you compare to places like Singapore, Singapore is really more expensive and everything is double with locals salaries beomg squeezed (dont count expats because they get privelleged treatment) I saved more money staying in Japan compared to Singapore. Lot of necessities in Japan like food, drinks, clothes, toiletries etc are very affordable. Whatever I cannot afford in Singapore, I buy back from Japan.
Wow in the US at least in my state rent is $2000-$3000. I am definitely visiting Japan didn’t realize how dirt cheap they were.
In Tokyo most people earn around 1800-2500$ per month, and they are able to live a comfortable life and save quite a lot actually...their average rent is around 400-600$ per month and if you live in a relatively big house in central Tokyo maybe 800$-1000$
Rachel asked some very good follow-up questions that revealed more insightful information. Interesting video.
The center inner wards of tokyo are extremely expensive and paying over 1 million $ for a family apartment isnt overly expensive.
That being said, already towards the harbor and outer wards or adjacent prefectures like China you can already buy small houses for 400-500k$
According to some reports，Singapore, Hong Kong, sometimes Osaka are most expensive to live in asia.
Just remember though, Japan is larger than Italy, Tokyo does not equal Japan just like Rome does not equal the whole Italy. There are plenty of places in Japan with space and affordable living with nature and scenery
Space🤡🤡🤡☠️💀
@@mayshusakuhanamurasufferli5438 have you been to Shikoku? Kyushu? If you haven’t you can stfu
I’m so tired of Tokyo being called one of the most expensive cities in the world. It is clearly not. A rundown old studio apartment in an average U.S. city is $1k+ minimum. In Tokyo it’s half that and it’s the freaking capitol city. In a major US city like NYC or LA you may as well add another zero.
I agree. from someone who lives in London, some of these salaries would not cut it here
lol that's because Tokyo is bigger than NYC and LA combined. Certain parts of Tokyo are on level with Manhattan prices ie: Ginza, but Tokyo is just way bigger so there are cheaper places to live.
I think you have to consider the income they’re making. $1,800~2,100 isn’t that much and income taxes are deducted from it. These people are paying $450 to rent a small box apartment and are shared. There’s also expenses such as transportation which I would estimate is around $200 min. per month then you have water bills, electricity, phone bills, internet, food and you’re really left with not much.
@@ZergcerebratesNot really. Even after the expenses you’re left with more buying power due to the low price of food and other services. Meals can be had for $4, US you need to spend $20 min to eat decent meals out. Basic groceries can be had for less than 20$, a grocery trip cost me at least $100 in 2022 in the US for 1 week of food.
Actually, the cost of living in the U.S. even with lower taxes is much much higher, because you don’t have things like subsidized healthcare, quality public transport, etc. everyone pays for those things out of pocket, and they add up to be enough to eat away at any salary difference.
You need at least $140,000 to live a decent lifestyle in a place like NYC or LA, and that’s without kids or a spouse. You only need 50-60,000$ in Tokyo. That’s not unobtainable.
"It's not that bad 8m^2 for 4 people" sure
The obsession with Tokyo is a big factor. The greater Tokyo area (includes some of neighbouring prefectures ) has more people than Canada. If some companies could be encouraged to move out of the capital, their workers could have better quality of life. Also, these last few years have shown us many office jobs could be done remotely. People could live up to 2 or 300 kilometres away from the office if theh only had to pop in a max of once a month.
I found people in Tokyo were pretty antisocial and travel may be a factor. I don't know if COVID made them adapt to WFH..
I lived in chiba pref, about 35 mins from Tokyo by train. I rented a large 5 bedroom house, really big, for 100000 a month. Plenty of big places if you just get outside the yamanote line
The interviewees really skewed young in this piece. Mostly 20-somethings either living with their parents or very recently moved out, and at the very low end of their lifetime earning potential. I don't think this is so representative of general Tokyo living conditions as it is of living conditions for a narrow age range of poor students and recent graduates.
Been to Japan quite a few times, both rent and purchase price seemed a lot cheaper than in most other countries, compared to local incomes. The Japanese have no idea how lucky they are.
In most Japanese cities except Tokyo a small apartment can be bought for about 5-6m yen, maybe not very central but still within public transport. That's usually less than 5 yearly local salaries. I.e. a family of two working people can be mortgage free in 5 years. Not to mention smaller towns where they wouldn't even need a mortgage.
Most other developed countries have price to income ratio of about 10-15 times. Some major cities are 20-40 times local salary: Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney , Vancouver for instance. There are complete outliers like Taipei and Seoul with outrageous 40-50 price/income ratio.
Consumer goods, same thing - just came back from a Sapporo trip, where I stopped by Aeon Mall - fir the same quality items were much cheaper than in Singapore and Taipei.
The Japanese have no idea how lucky they are, to live in clean, safe, affordable country ))
Wages are crap though. One of the worst/lowest in G7. That’s why many developed country people think japan is cheap😂
I live 60 mins away from tokyo. I cant imagine paying 1/2 of your monthly income just for rent when I am only paying around $400 for a 2bedroom apartment.
You would love to live in Lisbon, where the avg salary can barely rent a ROOM...let alone the rest.
Next do how expensive it is living in Singapore 😄
th-cam.com/video/eLJ-CxlzTK0/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=AsianBoss
Or Monaco
Or Beijing 😂
Singapore episode was done alreadyyy
I came from Zurich, Switzerland and been living here in Tokyo for almost 8 years. And I can tell you that Tokyo ( and Japan ) is NOT expensive at all. It's much more affordable than my own hometown !
It's not completely about the salary,,, it's more about your LIFESTYLE
Try living in Toronto, where we pay $2400 (1770 USD / 257,600 JPY) a month for a one bedroom :)
I lived in a small city in Japan, and you could get a great one bedroom with everything included for $400 (295 USD / 42,900 JPY). I always told my friends that if you have a North American salary and lived in Japan, you'd be living like a king since their cost of living and food is so low (since their salaries are lower). My friends in Japan were shocked that I could make 100,000 out of school (compared to their 30,000 for the same job), but everything in Canada is more expensive to make up for it.
Asian boss please introduce the concept of purchasing power parity and then give $ amounts in both exchange rate and purchasing power parity
i am from Uzbekistan (central Asia), Here everyone owns home. Cheaper than Japan. But we still complain. After watching video. i feel like rich man.
Alhamdulilah
Yeah but it’s in a Stan which makes it utterly worthless
@@lulc4694 You know nothing about our region. Search on Google: Tashkent city
Uzbekistan is a developing, third word country. Obviously it’s gonna be way more cheaper.
tbh considering with what we have in the US, tokyo's surprisingly cheap...a very basic apartment in DFW is now like 1300+
@grapesurgeon fr dude I live in Seattle too and 1400 and below is considered low income and most apartments that aren't a shoebox are like 2000 easily
You speaking of rent but your grocery bill is what really matters - there is no way you can get the same fresh foods in Japan cheaper than in the USA. Something tells me the people who talking about how "cheap" Japan is never really lived there and just visit - try shopping for good food in Japan that is non-processed and non-packaged with high amount of salt and sugar - I'll wait
@@eddunn3021 Yeah you have to cook yourself in Japan if you want healthier food :(
source: just lived in Shinjuku for 4 months
@@eddunn3021a dozen eggs in a small town in USA is like $7 USD and you can’t get meat for under $10. A week worth of groceries for 1 person is over $100 easily not to mention that you have to drive to the grocery store which adds at least $500 a month for a car payment and then $3.60 gas if you’re living in a cheap area. Cost of living is significantly higher in US
Move to the suburbs. My son did five years ago, and its wonderful -- affordable, quieter, and lovely.
as former Korean, when I visit Japan in 2002, I felt that Japan was super expensive compared to Korea, and for past five years, I heard that lots of Korean go Japan instead of domestic traveling because traveling Japan is cheaper. I visited Tokyo last year and I feel that the prices are super cheap because the price was almost same as 20 years ago. it was very weird feeling ever
I'm really surprised that Japan, being one of the world's largest economies, has such low wages for the working class.
A Toronto Uptown bachelor unit is already $1500 (average is $1700). A small house (2 bedroom)cost more than $1 million.
Toronto is unfortunately turning into Bay Area in terms of overpriced unaffordable housing
i keep hearing about population decline in japan, it seems that would affect the scarcity of things like room and board. so im surprised its still this expensive there
population decline is more people dying thatn being born because young Japanese are not having families due to financial constraints that is being expressed in the video
@@eddunn3021I think they did a survey and they found people just didn't want sex.
@@pigeonlove ??? research is inconclusive but usually points to work culture rather than that... not sure where you heard that from
@@pigeonlove what's love hotels for then? People can't not want sex unless they're asexual which is rare, sex is a hormonal need. It's children that are expensive to raise.
Thank you very much!
Talking about prices and rents is pretty much useless, if you don't consider the local pay. If your pay is 100 and you spend 60 for rent, 30 for bills, 9 for food.. at the end of the day you have spent the 99% of your pay. If your pay in another country with a higher cost of living is 1000 and you spend 600 for rent, 300 for bills and 90 for foor, you are still left with the 1% of your pay at the end of the month. The only difference is that your 1% left has a higher purchase power in some other countries abroad..otherwise if you don't travel, the situation is the same
Here in Madrid, Spain, the rent prices can be well above 75% of a median income. Life is tougher here.
Was just in Tokyo and the prices have not changed much in 16 years it’s so cheap now but I guess if you live there it could be worth expensive as wages have not gone up too
Tokyo used to be very expensive in the 90s, nowadays I would say it's among the most affordable big cities in the world. And I'm taking into account their purchasing power...even earning around 1800-2000$ per month you can live by perfectly fine and even save quite a bit... that's definitely not the case in cities like London, NY, Paris, etc.
Here in San Diego, my 2 bedroom apartment is $4200 per month. I spend $80 to fill up my toyota highlander. A big Mac is $8. My electric bill alone is $250. A bowl of udon cost $15. So i think is fair to say that the USA is far more expensive to live now than Japan, Korea, Singapore.....
If people in nyc were suddenly able to live like the people of Tokyo with their "rising" costs they'd be crying with tears of joy.
You're forgetting that the salary is 200k jpy a month and you're living in a space less than half the size of a nyc apartment.
@@livinghoomanbean4803 Live an hour from the center and you'll be paying just a few hundred a month, and your neighborhood will still be guaranteed to be crime free and nice, and youll find plenty of places to eat for cheap. Live an hour or more from the center of manhattan and you will regret ever moving here. In nyc, you pay a premium to live in a less crime ridden neighborhood, and with places you can actually eat and buy food at. Even if you can find a "cheaper" place for $1200/mo you'd never want to live there. And costs in nyc never stop going up. I've seen the cost of meals go up a factor of 30% within less than 6 months in some restaurants. Within a year or two, prices can go up 50% in nearly every restaurant. Rents are skyrocketing in the same direction. There is no place more expensive to live in the world.
Japan tax is a Ridicolous high, yet the government demand people having a kid
The price of groceries getting expensive too
I lived there for +1.5 years. Wages are a fraction of Australian wages and groceries are more expensive and smaller than in Australia. Eating out is cheaper but you can't eat out everyday.
@@Umeshukitsune agree, the government act blind
maybe they need to come and check on Sydney, Australia. We have higher wages no doubt (like 500 extra) but those renting price they mentioned is only for a week rent.
But its easier to find mates, so there is that
Rent in Sydney is one of the highest in the world. People in Sydney can't afford to own property near the CBD unless they're wealthy. Most live +45 min away.
ASIAN BOSS is Korean channel.
I thought the rental is not high compared to the price to purchase an apartment. USD700K to purchase but USD750 to get a room or small studio is not too expensive. In Singapore now the price for a bedroom is around USD700 too and the worse thing is we don't really have a rural area option. But to balance things, we do have cheap food options while food in Tokyo is generally more expensive.
I thought that was weird, the guy mentioned 700k to buy an apartment, which is similar with my city (Vancouver BC), but the rent in Tokyo seems so CHEAP compared to my city where the average 1bedroom apartment is roughly $2900 CAD/$2150 USD to rent per month.
$750 to rent? In 2023? What are you smoking and where can I get some? You aint getting a studio for $750 more like $1500 very least.
@@Duran762 one of the interviewees said $650, another said a combined $840 and the last said $450 for 1 room apartment, did you even watch the video. zzz
No proper raise in salary will destroy peoples power purchase.
great finish. That last guy was a sage!
A one bedroom apartment here in my corner of So Cal is around $2k. Some of those prices in Tokyo sound like a bargain…especially in a capitol city.
@abtcup Did you take into consideration of the sizes and their salary too? That 1 bedroom you speak of could be 4x the size of Japanese sized 1 bedrooms.
And Their average salary is about $25k, whats average California salary? More than double that! So how is that a bargain?
Japanese one bedroom is literally 1 bedroom and you sleep next to the toilet and the kitchen.
@@yerri5567 $15/hour to flip burgers
Just a recommendation highly recommend giving an idea of the age group of the people you’re interviewing. We know they are young off of assumption but it doesn’t show the age demographic.
Here in Los Angeles, you would be lucky to get a one-bedroom apartment for $2,000 a month
Living in the city and having those living costs is crazy. I am paying at least double in rent. THE RENT IS TOO DA... high...
Are the salaries they talk about pre or post-tax etc? like is it gross or net?
Aren't salaries always gross? It technically passes to you before you pay tax, even if it's auto-deducted.
We are spoiled here in the U.S.
Didn't know salaries in Tokyo were that low. Was there on vacation recently and while things were generally cheaper than what I get in my country, I could not imagine living there on their salaries.
I m a foreigner working for a Swiss company in Japan and i make 520,000 yen/month before tax. Still everything is expensive.
This is so sad. They all are trying their best
Although the people interviewed were not regular company workers and not representative of the whole population, I definitely see an erosion of the middle class here. Rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. Fewer Japanese go overseas for a holiday now due to the weak yen and tightening of purse strings. That said, in my opinion JP is one of the safest places in the world to live and has the best healthcare. I'd prefer to have those 2 things over getting a higher wage.
Greetings from Argentina!
I think people also forget that prior to the pandemic, 100 yen used to be almost about a dollar, but since then, the value of the yen has decreased due to various factors.
This generation is just working to survive their everyday lives.
Don't stay in Tokyo and refrain from eating out every day. You'll see your expenses go down. I'm living in Japan comfortably in Yokohama area. I spend around 150k yen a month on all my expenses including my hobbies and eating out once/twice a week.
Cost of living is relative. It all depends on salaries, cost of goods, utilities, housing, etc. Here in San Diego California, the average 1 bedroom rents for $2,500, even 500sqft studios go for that price. We were recently rated more expensive than New York City. Minimum wage I believe is $17.50 which clearly won't make enough to rent an apartment. The average cost of a meal is about $11 unless you eat terrible fast food. Gas and electric are the highest in the US. If I lived in Tokyo making my same salary, I would be able to live much more comfortable.
I does seem expensive but I live in California USA and it is very expensive. Coming to japan this sept so excited to see the country. The third guys she interviewed making $2100 was so handsome and friendly. I am surprised people are willing to say how much they make on this. I would never do that
I go to Tokyo frequently. While it can be expensive, normal life is quite inexpensive. Notice that people in Tokyo are earning peanuts compared to normal salaries in California. Restaurants are less than half of what I'm used to in San Francisco. A nice breakfast in Tokyo is $5. Lunch might be $12. Compared to California, for a comparable meal, Tokyo is a bargain. I stay at hotels, which are usually a bargain. With the USD so valuable vs the yen, the hotels are a super bargain. Somehow, Japan seems to have avoided the massive inflation that we've experienced in California. Prices are up a little in Japan, but not like the USA. Even if you discount the USD's rise vs the yen, Japan is still a serious bargain. There are certain things in Japan that can be expensive including the bullet train, hotels during Japanese vacation times and road tolls. Rental cars are sometimes very expensive as well, depending on availability. Hopefully you can live without a large variety of the produce that you might be used to, as some fruits and veggies can be outrageously expensive. It is best to buy food that the locals enjoy in order to avoid $8 apples... Go have fun in Japan while the USD is so strong.
If the salaries go up, wouldn’t that mean that the prices will also go up? There is no point in raising the salaries when the inflation is bad
Nah higher salary doesn't increase inflation like that. It's not a direct correlation. The United States federal reserve has been increasing interest rates non stop for over a year and salary has actually increased while inflation hasn't. Whoever sets prices aka businesses mostly dictate inflation.
More money means more tax and more money to import goods. Since Japan is not quite self-sufficient, they will lose the power to buy goods once they don't make more money than the rest of the world.
Ah, I do agree that inflation and wage rising are not correlated. Since in Japan the inflation is higher than the average wage rising for 15 months.
Interesting
While i won't be comparing between one country to another as the cost of living is different. If you are comparing Tokyo with place of low cost living in US, then Tokyo is expensive. But if compare with NYC and LA, then we need to compare with the ratios of cost of living/house expense/etc. Japan wage havent changed for so long, but living expense increase.
6:03 that's a good point.
Man even if it's expensive, I HAVE to visit Japan... Also to do some street-interviews for my channel.
So far I have only made videos from Brazil and Argentina
Tokyo is not that expensive but most “local” wages are horrendously low, even with long work hours.
Rent and groceries are more expensive in NYC but wages are about the same as Tokyo. So it’s cheaper and arguably better to live in Tokyo.
I used to work in Tokyo back in 2017 as foreigner in IT... 235k for my first job was very doable.
**Make about Bangkok please
For 700k usd in tokyo you can absolutely purchase a mansion or an ikkodate thats at least like 60-70 square meters or more, potentially going closer to 100 square meters or more depending in a variety of factors such as locafion, age of building, vicinity to a station, etc
LOL - 700k can get you something nice in any country in this world - you forgetting the 30-year rule in Japan/Tokyo while a 700k home in the USA can last more than 200 years.
@@eddunn3021 No. My STUDIO in Manhattan was just under $700K and that is CHEAP by Manhattan standards.
@@eddunn3021in Jakarta Indonesia USD700k will just get you apartment with 40-50square meters in the outskirts of Jakarta
My city (Perth, WA) is currently experiencing a rental crisis where a semi-janky 2 bedroom apartment, 15 mins drive from the city, costs $650AUD (400USD) a week. And food is so expensive that two major supermarket chains are currently being investigated for price gouging. My generation (Z)will be the first to have a WORSE quality of living than the generation before them in decades.
Price of rent Depends on Location obviously. Suburbs are cheap,Ropongi is pricey like NYC 😊
It’s very very expensive to live in Japan
I propose to change the title from Japan to Tokyo.
excellent reporting @asianboss
came from NYC...the apartment here for 3LDK in Minato-mirai area..￥170,000 is really cheap. Bring USD then youll be set here in Japan.
Just one clarification question here - by "consumption tax" , they mean (i guess) the VAT i reckon?
I think so as well
Tokyo is really cheap if you compare with LA, NYC, Toronto, Montreal, Singapore.
And if you can speak Japanese, you can find great opportunities.
(Something between 600000 to 700000¥ after tax per month)
just my personal thoughts, I saw most of the peps in the comments are either from Europe or America ( Western countries) and how they find it cheap to live in Tokyo, or that it’s not expensive….but as someone from Asia, I think Tokyo is quite pricey. Idk if its because Western countries have bigger currencies and stuff, that’s why they find it cheaper, but as someone from Asia who’s currency is almost equivalent to the Japanese currency…. Tokyo is pricey. Like recently when I searched for normal stuff like clothes, bags, umbrellas,etc. All cost more than where i’m from (double or triple the price). Other things like taxis prices are so crazy ,they can cost up to 8.800~9.800yen for 24km, like for the same distance it cost app. 1.500yen for where i’m from.
*Singapore has entered the conversation*