Ok, you checked your options and decided you wanna to go Japan to study or work. If you go to Japan for work, you don’t necessarily have to calculate your expenses in advance, as you will get money while you are there but if you go to Japan to study I strongly recommend playing with some figures to see how much money your daily life will cost you. And even if you have some kind of income while you are in Japan, knowing how much you can expect to pay every month might be pretty useful.
The numbers I’ll present here are based on my own experience (as I’m tracking my expenses on a daily basis) and some of my friends. Depending on your life style and where you are gonna live in Japan your expenses might be a little bit different, but getting some concrete figures might be a good point of reference.
Let’s start with your fixed costs.
Rent
No matter if you are gonna stay at a guesthouse, a weekly mansion or get your own place, rent is most likely the biggest chunk of your monthly expenses. This page gives you a great overview about the average rent you can expect based on the area (only for Tokyo). On the left you see the ward or city name and the columns show you the average prices for different room sizes. All prices are in 10.000 Yen. So for example for a one-room apartment in Minato-Ku you pay almost 120.000 Yen on average. Yes, it is REEEEAAALLLYYY expensive!
Most of my friends and I pay about 75.000 to 95.000 JPY for apartments ranging from 16 sqm to 25 sqm in Setagaya-Ku (世田谷区). Obviously you can cut your costs if you choose to stay at a guesthouse , share a room http://www.borderless-house.com/ . But if you don’t wanna commute for too long every day and get more than 16 sqm I’d calculate with at least 75.000 Yen.
Utilities
For gas, water and electricity I pay around 12.000 Yen all together and then another 5.000 Yen for internet access at my place.
Phone
Although a phone doesn’t really belong into the fixed costs part, it’s more or less indispensable. Most of my friends have an iPhone (especially my foreign friends) and we all pay something between 5.000 and 10.000 Yen.
If you sum it all up, you can expect to pay between 97.000 and 122.000 Yen. Yes, that’s a whole lotta money. If you go to Japan on an exchange program you might get lucky and get a place at your university’s dormitory, which helps you a lot to reduce your fixed costs. If work (or an internship) is bringing you to Japan, you can also check if the company provides some housing allowance or even offers a place at their dormitory (as some companies provide apartments or dormitories for their employees).
Average variable costs
Now, except the monthly fixed costs you also have a lot of expenses depending on how much you eat out, go for drinks, watch a movie etc.
Eating out
If you eat outside you can expect to pay about 700 and 1.500 Yen for a lunch. Junk food options are of course cheaper but I wouldn’t recommend calculating your expenses based on eating Junk food every day.
I personally eat out a lot and spend about 40.000 Yen on average for lunch, dinner, coffee, and drinks out with friends – quite a lot as I think about it now…
Transportation
Taking the train or sometimes even a taxi sums up as well and depending on where you live that amount can get pretty high as well. If you live closer to the area you hang out most of the time (school, work place etc.) you don’t have to pay much for transportation but will most likely pay more for rent. If you live close to the main areas of your daily life you can expect to pay about 10.000 Yen on average a month.
Groceries
Regardless of if you cook/eat at home everyday or not, you will most likely always have some food and drinks at your place. And buying something at a convenience store or vending machine around the corner sums up over time as well, so expect to pay another 40.000 to 50.000 Yen on average here as well.
Shopping
As Japan is the fashion and high tech capital of the world, you might feel tempted to buy lotsa stuff. If you are not interested in fashion or high tech at all, you might be able to safe a lotta money here. So this one totally depends on you. You can spend everything from just a few thousand Yen up to how much you want.
Giving the averages above, you can expect to have average variable costs of about 100.000+ Yen. Together with the fixed costs you might end up spending 200.000 Yen every month easily, not taking into account special occasions like birthdays, weddings, travel etc.
Your variable costs are easily adjustable but if you really want to safe money, try to cut your fixed costs as well as you can. Saving 10.000 Yen on your rent by choosing a smaller place or dormitory is much easier than telling your friends “no” if they invite you for dinner or partying.
Instead of saving over a couple of years and then spending all your savings over a few months in Japan I recommend to get a side job or some money through a scholarship program while you are in Japan.
Also, check out the post about finding a place to live in Japan and take the initial costs of moving in into consideration as well.
Got any ideas how to cut costs or any other experiences regarding your expenses in Japan? Leave us a comment or send us a mail!
